Dietary factors and gastric cancer risk: hospital-based case control study

To examine possible associations between dietary factors and gastric cancer risk among residents in the area of Nis, Serbia.

This hospital based case-control study was conducted at the Clinical Centre Nis between 2005 and 2006. Cases (n=102) with histologically confirmed gastric cancer and matched non-cancer patients (controls, n=204) were interviewed. Diet was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire and odds ratios (OR), 95% confidence interval (95% CI), and p-trends were calculated across tertiles of intake.

High intake of salt, salty meals and hot food were associated with higher risk of gastric cancer. After searching for potential confounders, multivariate logistic regression analysis showed elevated risk for the highest vs. the lowest tertile of intake for smoked and barbecue meat (OR 4.21; 95% CI 1.43-12.37), processed meat (OR 9.17; 95% CI 2.78-15.23), desert (OR 2.85; 95% CI 1.28-6.38), potatoes (OR 4.79; 95% CI 1.44-5.94), pickled vegetables (OR 2.02; 95% CI 1.21-3.0) and milk (OR 5.08; 95% CI 1.59-10.16) intake but reduced for citrus fruits (OR= 0.13, 95% CI 0.03- 0.53), other fruits (OR 0.05; 95% CI 0.02-0.18), allium vegetables (e.g. onion, garlic, leek) (OR 0.11; 95% CI 0.02-0.60) and cooked meat intake (OR 0.07; 95% CI 0.02-0.27). Intake of bread, dairy, fish, legumes and raw and cooked vegetables was not significantly related with gastric cancer risk.

A low risk diet for gastric cancer in the area of Nis should include increased fruits and alliums vegetables consumption and limited processed meat, salt, preserved food, deserts, potatoes and milk intake.