Journal of Hepatology and Gastrointestinal disorders
Open Access

Abstract

Association between Dietary Acid Load and Risk of Gastric Cancer: A Case-Control Study

Farimah Dehghani, Fatemeh Toorang, Bahareh Sasanfar, Saba Narmcheshm, Maryam Hadji, Kazem Zendehdel, Ahmad Esmaillzadeh*

Background and objective: The association between Dietary Acid Load (DAL) and the risk of various cancers has been conflicting. Furthermore, no study has examined the association between DAL and the risk of Gastric Cancer (GC) so far. This investigation was conducted to assess the association between dietary acid load and GC risk.

Methods: In this case-control study, 184 patients with newly diagnosed gastric cancer and 2763 healthy controls were enrolled. A validated Diet History Questionnaire (DHQ) was applied for dietary assessments. DAL was calculated by computing amounts of protein intake into potassium contents. Logistic regression was used to define the association between DAL and GC risk.

Results: Mean age of participants was 56.26; of them, 31.7% were women. There was a positive association between DAL and GC risk (OR 4.59; 95% CI 2.61-8.07; P-trend<0.001, for T2 versus T3). In the full model, adjusted for all covariates, including BMI, DAL was positively associated with the risk of GC (OR 3.55; 95% CI 1.89-6.99; P-trend <0.001).

Conclusion: We found that DAL was associated significantly with greater gastric cancer odds in this case-control study. This finding supports the current recommendation for healthy eating to lower the risk of cancer incidence.

Published Date: 2025-01-20; Received Date: 2023-06-06