Is there any Relationship between Food Habits in the Last Two Decades and Gastric Cancer in North-western Iran?

Purpose: The aims of this case-control study were to assess the correlation between some food habits in thelast two decades and gastric cancer in East Azerbaijan of Iran. Materials and
Methods: In this hospital basedcase control study, 616 patients (212 gastric cancer patients, 404 cancer free patients) were recruited. Food habitsof patients over the past two decades were assessed with a structured questionnaire. We used conditional logisticregression analysis for estimating crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR) and their respective 95% confidenceintervals (95%CI).
Results: In this study, over-eating, consumption of high fat milk and yogurt and especialtypes of cheese increased the risk of gastric cancer (All<0.05). Consumption of such especial cheeses such asKoze and Khiki increased the risk of gastric cancer by 12.6 fold (95% CI:1.99-79.36) and 7.36 fold (95% CI:1.33-40.54), respectively. In addition, high fat food, moldy food, and pickled vegetables consumption as well as reuseof cooking oil for frying were significantly associated with gastric cancer risk. Furthermore, intake of Ghorme(deep fried meat) was positively correlated with gastric cancer risk (OR:1.31;95%CI: 0.91-1.87).
Conclusions:It can be confirmed that particular food habits which have been very common in East-Azerbaijan in the last twopast decades increase risk of gastric cancer. According to our results and taking into account the long latencyperiod of gastric cancer it can be concluded that nutrition education for a healthy diet should be performedfrom early childhood. However, further well designed cohort studies are needed to achieve more clear results.