Friday

WORLD CANCER DAY

DIA MUNDIAL CONTRA EL CÁNCER

For the first time, the Mediterranean Diet has been demonstrated to protect against stomach cancer.

*People who follow the Mediterranean Diet have up to 33% less gastric tumours, according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

*Gastric cancer has a poor prognosis and lacks effective treatment. This is why promoting prevention is especially important.

The Mediterranean Diet has a significant protective effect against gastric cancer. So it concludes a study by the EPIC network, which has involved a group of scientists from the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) and the Institute of Biomedical Research of Bellvitge (IDIBELL), led by Genevieve Buckland and Carlos A. Gonzalez, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study included 485,044 people between the ages of 35 to 70 from ten European countries. Participants were followed for about nine years and data was collected on diet and lifestyle.

Participants received a score from 0 to 18 based their adherence to the Mediterranean Diet: high consumption of fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, fish and olive oil,moderate alcohol consumption and low consumption of milk and meat.

After nine years of follow up, 449 people developed gastric cancer. According to the study, individuals with a high score, ie, greater adherence to the Mediterranean Diet, were 33% less likely to develop these tumours than those with poorer scores. The work also concluded that for each point more, implying minimal changes to the diet, 5% more protection was achieved.

Diet and cancer

The Mediterranean Diet has proven beneficial in preventing various diseases, especially cardiovascular diseases. Previous studies have analised the effect of specific products (fruits, vegetables, vitamin C) on gastric cancer, which had shown a subtle protective effect.

This is the first study to show the important benefactor effect of the Mediterranean Diet as a whole to prevent this tumour according to the authors of the study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, “the influence of each food can be weak, but the simultaneous effect of all the components of the Mediterranean Diet confers significant protection against gastric cancer. Thus, the beneficial effect is not due to a specific product, but the Mediterranean Diet as a whole.

A cancer with poor prognosis

Gastric tumours are the second leading cause of death from cancer worldwide, with more than one million deaths each year. In the Spanish state, it is the fifth most common cancer – 8200 new cases a year- and fourth that causes more deaths.

It is a tumour with poor prognosis, since it is diagnosed at advanced stages and has no effective treatment. Currently, the 5-year survival rate does not exceed 23%. This is why it is particularly important to promote prevention.

Until now the relationship between gastric cancer and infection by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and tobacco use had been demonstrated. Some studies have also suggested that fruits and vegetables reduce the risk of suffering from it, while consumption of smoked and salted products as well as obesity increase the risk.

EPIC

EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition Study) is a prospective population cohorts consisting of 23 centers from 10 European countries. It is the European study with a largest number of participants: includes 521,457 people between the ages of 35 and 70, who were recruited between 1992 and 1998. The ICO coordinates the study of gastric and oesophageal tumours.