Stomach Cancer and Dietary Habits

Abstract

Stomach cancer is known as a neoplasm which shows big regional difference in the mortality, both internationally and in the country. This fact indicates an intimate relationship between the cancer generation and the lifestyle, especially dietary habits of the people. On the other hand, both Wynder and Doll showed that the biggest cause of all preventable cancers was foods. The present speaker showed the two-step theory of cancer generation of Berenblum, and applied the mechanism to his epidemiological study.
In Japan, high-risk area of stomach cancer locates on the Japan Sea side of northern part, and the low-risk area locates on the Pacific Ocean side of this part. Dietary survey showed that the people of the high-risk area take shortage of vegetables, whereas those of low-risk area take plenty of vegetables. Also the mutagenicity of foods was high in the high risk area and low in the low risk area. The vegetables in diets tended to reduce mutagenicity of the diets. Two kinds of mutagen-depressive substances were purified and determined the chemical structure. On the other hand, sodium chloride was shown to be a promotor for the stomach cancer. It should be taking care from the stand-points of primary prevention of stomach cancer to take enough vegetables and reduce salty foods were stressed as the conclusion.