Vleeswaren en maagkanker
Zweedse onderzoekers hebben een relatie
ontdekt tussen bewerkte vlees produkten zoals bacon, worstjes en gerookte ham en
maagkanker. Al eerder zijn er relaties aangetoond tussen de inname van bewerkt rood vlees
en darmkanker.
Ron
Connection between Processed Meats and
Stomach Cancer
New research from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has established that increased
consumption of processed meat products such as bacon, sausages and smoked ham, increases
the risk of developing stomach cancer. A survey of a large number of studies has shown
that the risk of developing stomach cancer increases by between 15% and 38% when
consumption of processed meat products increases by about a half-portion per day. Stomach
cancer accounts for nearly 10% of total deaths from cancer.
The incidence of stomach cancer throughout the world has fallen during the last 50 years,
but this form of cancer is still the fourth most common. Its mortality rate is so high
that it is the second most common cause of cancer-related death. Approximately 700,000
deaths from this form of cancer occur every year throughout the world.
Processed meats are often salted or smoked, or nitrites may be added to them, in order to
prolong their shelf-life. It may be the case that these treatments increase the risk of
developing stomach cancer, but previous studies have given contradictory results.
"We decided to carry out a meta-analysis. This is an analysis in which we collated
all research into processed meats and stomach cancer that we could find", explains
Susanna Larsson, research student under the supervision of Alicja Wolk at The Institute of
Environmental Medicine at Karolinska Institutet.
They found 15 studies, covering 4,704 subjects in the period 1966 - 2006, and the results
are unequivocal: the risk of developing stomach cancer increases by between 15% and 38%
when consumption of processed meat products increases by 30 grams (approximately a
half-portion) per day.
"Nobody had carried out this type of analysis into processed meats and stomach
cancer," says Susanna Larsson, "and our results from a mean value show very
clearly that there is an association between increased consumption of processed meat
products and stomach cancer. We hope that further studies will clarify the interaction
between the consumption of processed meats and other factors, such as other dietary
factors and the effects of different bacteria on the incidence of stomach cancer."
