Abstract

PURPOSE
Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is now generally accepted to be strongly associated with the development of gastric cancer, as well as intakes of some salted foods, charred foods, etc. To evaluate the association among dietary habits, H. pylori infection, and early gastric cancer in Koreans, a hospital based case-control study was conducted. Material and Method: A total of 268 persons participated in this case-control study. Sixty nine patients were newly diagnosed as an early gastric cancer (EGC) at the Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea. One hundred ninety-nine subjects with no symptoms who visited the Health Promotion Center for their general checkups were selected as the controls. All subjects were examined for H. pylori infection, biochemical blood test the life style, and dietary habit were interviewed by a trained dietition with semi-quantitative food frequency question naire (FFQ) and adaptive salt concentration were taste evaluated.
RESULTS
H. pylori seropositivity was observed in 88.4% in cases, as compared with 74.9% in controls (OR=2.5, 95% CI: 1.1-5.7). The adaptive salt concentration was associated with early gastric cancer risk (chi-squir=50.8, p<0.001). The analysis of food intake frequency demonstrated that early gastric cancer risk was reduced by the intake of clear soups, raw vegetables, fruits and juices, beef with vegetables and soybean curds. On the other hand, high intake of salt-fermented fish and kimchi elevated the risk of early gastric cancer.
CONCLUSION
These results suggest that some dietary factors and H. pylori infection have a significant association with the development of early gastric cancer.

• Keywords: Early gastric cancer;Helicobacter pylori;Salt-fermented fish;Kimchi;Raw vegetables