Dietary Factors and the Incidence of Cancer of the Stomach

Abstract

A case-control study of diet and stomach cancer was conducted during 1979-1982 in Toronto, Winnipeg, and St. John's Canada. Two hundred forty-six histologically verified cancer cases were individually matched by age, sex, and area of residence to 246 randomly selected population controls. Daily nutrient consumption values were calculated from quantitative diet history questionnaire data through use of the US Department of Agriculture Food Composition Data Bank, which was extended and modified for Canadian items. For the analysis, continuous conditional logistic regression methods were used. It was found that consumption of dietary fiber was associated with decreased risk of gastric cancer; the odds ratio estimate of trend was 0.40/10 g average daily intake of fiber (i.e., 0.40(1.5)/15 g, etc.) (p less than 10(-8)). Also, average daily consumption of nitrite, chocolate, and carbohydrate was associated with increasing trends in risk, with odds ratio estimates, respectively, 2.6/mg (p less than 10(-4)), 1.8/10 g (p less than 10(-4)), and 1.5/100 g (p = 0.015). While citrus fruit intake appeared to be somewhat protective (odds ratio = 0.75/100 g daily average, p = 0.0056), vitamin C intake was less so, and vitamin E not at all. Thus, a number of dietary components seem to be implicated in the pathogenesis of stomach cancer.

Untitled

“…Duration of refrigerator use or freezer use was not associated with stomach cancer risk in the Netherlands Cohort Study, in contrast with the results of casecontrol studies performed in Europe or the USA, which rather consistently reported a decreased stomach cancer risk with long-term use of a refrigerator [2,5,9,16,18,38,54]. Three of the case-control studies did not find an association [15,44,47] and no other cohort study reported on this association.…”

Poor housing in childhood and high rates of stomach cancer in England and Wales

“…A link between stomach cancer and poor food storage is supported by two case-control studies (Coggon et al, 1989;Risch et al, 1985) and, if real, might explain part of the world-wide decline in the disease over recent decades. In our analysis, however, stomach cancer correlated less strongly with the proportion of families living in small houses than with the proportion in overcrowded dwellings (Table III).…”

Intake of nitrate and nitrite and the risk of gastric cancer: a prospective cohort study

“…In most studies a statistically significant inverse association was reported between nitrate intake from foods and gastric cancer risk (Risch et al, 1985;Buiatti et al, 1990;Boeing et al, 1991;Gonzalez et al, 1994;Hansson et al, 1994;La Vecchia et al, 1994), which disappeared after additional adjustment for potential confounders (mainly intake of vitamin C and beta-carotene). In all case-control studies on nitrate and gastric cancer risk, a positive association was reported (Risch et al, 1985;Buiatti et al, 1990;Gonzalez et al, 1994;Hansson et al, 1994;La Vecchia et al, 1994;Pobel et al, 1995) which reduced after adjustment for intake of other nutrients.…”

“…Case-control studies have mainly investigated the association between nitrate or nitrite from foods and gastric cancer risk (Risch et al, 1985;Buiatti et al, 1990;Boeing et al, 1991;Palli et al, 1992;Gonzalez et al, 1994;Hansson et al, 1994;La Vecchia et al, 1994;Pobel et al, 1995). In most studies a statistically significant inverse association was reported between nitrate intake from foods and gastric cancer risk (Risch et al, 1985;Buiatti et al, 1990;Boeing et al, 1991;Gonzalez et al, 1994;Hansson et al, 1994;La Vecchia et al, 1994), which disappeared after additional adjustment for potential confounders (mainly intake of vitamin C and beta-carotene).…”

“…1983: Gilli et al 1984: Beresford. 1985: Risch et al 1985: Buiatti et al 1990: Boein, et al 1991: Leclerc et al 1991: Palli et al 1992: Rademacher et al 1992: Xu et al 1992: Gonzalez et al 1994: Hansson et al 1994: La Vecchia et al 1994: Pobel et al 1995 However. in most of these studies high nitrate consumption via ingested food showed no association with gastric cancer risk or even an inverse association.…”