Unfortunately, people with chronic pancreatitis usually experience pain daily, says John Poneros, M.D., a gastroenterologist at the Columbia Pancreas Center.

“The best diet, to make it very simple, is to shop the outside aisles in supermarkets,” said Dr. Joel Lavine, chief of gastroenterology at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital.

“There used to be this whole notion of no pain, no gain,” says study co-author Keith Diaz, an assistant professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

The trend seen in the United States is also seen in much of the developed world, said Dr. John Rowe, a professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.