Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Processed meat and alcohol “strongly” linked to stomach cancer

Post Thumbnail

Drinking alcohol, eating processed meat and being overweight have been “strongly” linked to stomach cancer for the first time.

A new study from the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) found an increased risk of stomach cancer for people drinking three or more alcoholic drinks a day (equivalent to more than 45g of alcohol per day).

Eating the equivalent of 50g per day of processed meat – two rashers of bacon – was also linked to stomach cancer, while being overweight or obese also increased the risk.

But eating citrus fruits may decrease the risk, experts said.

Just over 7,000 people are diagnosed with stomach cancer every year in the UK and it leads to around 5,000 deaths.

Most (80%) people are diagnosed when their cancer has started to spread around the body.

According to Cancer Research UK, doctors generally think a patient is doing very well if they are still alive two years after being diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer.

Men are twice as likely as women to develop stomach cancer, and it is more common in older adults.

In the new report, WCRF scientists said there was “strong evidence” that drinking around three or more alcoholic drinks per day increased the risk of stomach cancer, as did being overweight or obese.

They also pointed to “strong evidence” that consuming foods preserved by salting increased the risk, such as pickled vegetables and salted or dried fish as is popular in Asia, and “strong evidence” that consuming processed meat increased the risk.

The report said: “Processed meat is meat that has been preserved by smoking, curing or salting, or by the addition of preservatives.

“Examples include ham, bacon, pastrami and salami, as well as hot dogs and some sausages.”

Processed meat is already linked to bowel cancer, while being overweight or obese is linked to 10 different cancers.

The scientists also reported that there was “some evidence that suggests consuming grilled or barbecued meat and fish increases the risk of stomach cancer”, while consuming “little or no fruit” may increase the risk.

There was also some evidence that eating citrus fruit could decrease the risk.

Dr Rachel Thompson, head of research interpretation at the WCRF, said: “This new evidence gives us a clearer picture.

“We can now say, for the first time, that drinking alcohol, eating processed meat and being overweight or obese can all increase the risk of developing stomach cancers.

“These findings will hopefully help people better understand what increases their risk of cancer so that they can make informed decisions about their lifestyles choices.”

In the UK, the lifetime risk of stomach cancer stands at one in 67 for men and one in 135 for women.

WCRF experts believe more than 1,200 cases of stomach cancer in the UK could be prevented each year if people did not drink three alcoholic drinks per day, cut out processed meat and were a healthy weight.

There would be 280 fewer cases thanks to a reduction in alcohol, 280 fewer due to cutting out processed meat and about 710 fewer if people were a healthy weight.

Professor Michael Leitzmann, from the University of Regensburg in Germany and one of the report’s leading experts, said: “The findings of this latest evidence report from World Cancer Research Fund are groundbreaking and show there is strong evidence linking the risk of developing stomach cancers to a number of different lifestyle factors, such as drinking alcohol and eating processed meat.

“The evidence from this current report will help the public and the health community better understand what can influence the risk of developing stomach cancers.

“It is an invaluable contribution to the growing evidence that exists on cancer prevention.”