Diet and gastric cancer. A case-control study in Belgium.

A case-control study was carried out in 2 Belgian provinces with contrasting gastric-cancer mortality. The results were analyzed for the total study group and also separately in each of the 4 sub-groups: men and women in each province. Only risks which appeared consistently in at least 3 of these 4 sub-groups were retained in the discussion. Consumption of most vegetables, either cooked or raw, and of fresh fruit was found to be protective. There was an increased risk associated with meal and flour products, including white bread. Added sugar also increased the risk of gastric cancer. Consumption of lean meat was associated with a decreased risk. There was no clear effect for most sources of fat, but for oils with a high P/S ratio there was a decreased risk. Together with our earlier finding on salt, these results are to a large extent similar to those of other recent studies on gastric cancer.