Dietary vitamin D and gastric cancer risk within the stomach cancer pooling (stop) project

The evidence regarding the role of vitamin D on gastric cancer (GC) is controversial. Within the Stomach cancer Pooling (StoP) Project, a global consortium of epidemiological studies on GC, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between dietary vitamin D and GC risk.

Five case-control studies were included in the analysis, accounting for 1875 cases and 5899 controls. Odds ratios (OR) of GC and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) for tertiles of vitamin D intake were computed using logistic regression models adjusted for relevant confounders, including energy intake. The pooled ORs were computed using random-effect models.

The pooled OR of GC for the highest compared to the lowest tertile of vitamin D intake was 1.06 (95% CI 0.80-1.39), with a p for heterogeneity of 0.019. No significant association was found across strata of sex, age, socioeconomic status, smoking status, alcohol intake, and vegetable and fruit consumption.

Our pooled analysis indicates that there is no association between dietary vitamin D and the risk of GC.