Stomach cancer, incidence

Epidemiologic studies in Japan indicate an increased risk of stomach cancer owing to consumption of broiled fish and meats (116). In the United States, stomach cancer incidence has steadily declined since the 1940s, whereas consumption of broiled food has increased (108). In addition, the average human intake of PAHs is only 0.002 of that required to produce cancer in half of animals fed. Test results are often contradictory (117) and many components of food, such as vitamin A, unsaturated fatty acids, thiols, nitrites, and even saUva itself, tend to inhibit the mutagenic activity of PAHs (118—120). Therefore, the significance of PAHs in the human diet remains unknown (121,109). 

Demerir, T., Icli, F., Uzunalimoglu, O., Kucuk, O., Diet and stomach cancer incidence. A case-control study in Turkey, Cancer, 2, 169, 1991. 

Kolonel LN, Nomura MY, Hirohata T, Hankin JH and Hinds MW. 1981. Association of diet and place of birth with stomach cancer incidence in Hawaii Japanese and Caucasians. Am J Clin Nutr 34(11) 2478—... 

Van Leeuwen, J.A, D. Waltner-Toews, T. Abernathy, B. Smit, and M. Shoukri (1999). Associations between stomach cancer incidence and drinking water contamination with atrazine and nitrate in Ontario (Canada) agroecosystems, 1987-1991. Int. J. Epidem., 28(5) 836-840. 

One test, made at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, " identified two areas of the UK in which the incidence of stomach cancer was particularly high and two in which it was particularly low. People attending hospitals in these areas as visitors rather than patients were asked to provide samples of saliva. The hypothesis suggested that samples from the high-risk areas should contain more nitrite and nitrate than those from the low-risk areas, but this was not so. The samples from the low-risk populations had nitrate concentrations 50% greater than those from the high-risk areas. 

Although there are a few caveats that need to be noted about these tests, the results suggest strongly that there is no real link between stomach cancer and nitrate in water. Further support for this conclusion comes from the fact that, while nitrate concentrations have been increasing in water during the past 30 years, the incidence of stomach cancer has been declining, and about ten years ago the absence of any link was accepted officially. ... 

Observational studies that track disease incidence in different pop-(5°) ulations suggest that garlic use in the diet may act as a cancer-fighting agent, particularly for prostate and stomach cancer. However, these findings have not been confirmed in clinical studies. And yes, reported side effects include garlic odor. 

Hawaiian name limu mane ono o) (4b,47). In their diet alone the Hawaiians may be getting all of the necessary agents for the initiation and promotion of gastrointestinal cancer. Epidemiological studies, however, are needed to evaluate the actual role of seaweed diet in the incidence of stomach cancer in Hawaii ( ). 

Yu, G.P. et al., Green-tea consumption and risk of stomach cancer a population-based case-control study in Shanghai, China, Cancer Causes Control, 6, 532, 1995. Zheng, W. et ah, Tea consumption and cancer incidence in a prospective cohort study of postmenopausal women, Am, J. Epidemiol., 144, 175, 1996. 

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