Dietary carotenoids and risk of gastric cancer: a case-control study in Uruguay

In the period 1997-1999, 120 incident and histologically verified cases of stomach cancer were frequency matched on age, sex, residence and urban/rura l status with 360 controls in order to study the role of diet in gastric ca ncer in Uruguay, Our attention was focused on the role of carotenoids in ga stric carcinogenesis, after controlling for major confounders. According to the results, vitamin A, alpha-carotene and lycopene were associated with s trong inverse relationships with stomach cancer (OR of stomach cancer for h igh alpha-carotene intake 0.34, 95% CI 0.17-0.65). Joint exposure to high i ntakes of alpha-carotene and vitamin C intakes were associated with a stron g reduction in risk (OR 0.11, 95% CI 0.03-0.36). It was also suggested that high lycopene intake explained most of the reduction in risk of gastric ca ncer associated with vegetable intake, whereas no such effect was observed for fruit intake, (C) 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.