Short Communication A Prospective Study of Diet and Stomach Cancer Mortality in United States Men and Women

Frequent consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains has been associated with a reduced risk of stomach cancer in the majority of case-control studies of these factors: however, prospective studies have been less consistent. We examined the association between selected major food groups (citrus fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and processed meats) and risk of fatal stomach cancer in the Cancer Prevention Study (CPS) II cohort of 1.2 million United States men and women. During 14 years of follow-up, we documented 439 stomach cancer deaths in women and 910 in men after exclusion of individuals with prevalent cancers, inadequate diet information, and recent weight loss at baseline in 1982. After controlling for other risk factors, none of the food groups examined were associated with risk of stomach cancer except for an unexpected increased risk with vegetable consumption in women [relative risk (RR) 1.25; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.99–1.58; highest versus lowest tertile, P 0.06 for trend]. A high overall plant food intake (a sum of vegetables, citrus fruit, and whole grains) was associated with reduced risk in men (RR 0.79; 95% CI, 0.67–0.93; highest versus lowest tertile, P 0.003 for trend), but not in women (RR 1.18; 95% CI, 0.93–1.50; P 0.16 for trend). Of individual foods examined, liver consumption greater than twice/week was associated with an increased risk of fatal stomach cancer in women (RR 1.96; 95% CI, 1.09–3.53) and men (RR 1.63; 95% CI, 1.02–2.62) compared with nonconsumers. This study supports a modest role for plant foods in reducing the risk of fatal stomach cancer in men, but not in women.