A diet high in meat or milk increases your risk for developing stomach or esophageal cancer, according to a new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Researchers from the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Health have discovered people who enjoy a diet high in red meat run a 3.5 times greater risk of developing esophageal cancer and are twice as likely to develop stomach cancer compared to those who consume a more balanced diet.

A high-milk diet, which also typically includes large amounts of red meat, was found to double the risks of developing both types of cancers.

Unbalanced Diets

The study examined the eating habits of nearly 700 Nebraska residents — including stomach and esophageal cancer patients along with cancer-free subjects — and discovered that one-third of stomach cancer patients and 35% of esophageal cancer patients consumed a diet high in red meat or milk.

"It doesn't mean you have to give up your red meat, but cut down on your portion size and load up on the vegetables and fruit," notes Melanie R. Polk, registered dietitian and director of nutrition education at the American Institute of Cancer Research in Washington, D.C.

The American Cancer Society estimates there were more than 12,000 esophageal cancer deaths in 2000, and just as many newly diagnosed cases. Stomach cancer's numbers are even higher: deaths were estimated to be 13,000, with approximately 21,000 new cases diagnosed.

Go for the Veggies

Study participants who ate the highest amounts of poultry, tomatoes, dark-yellow vegetables like carrots and sweet potatoes, and cereals had a 40% to 60% lower chance of developing both cancers.

"In our research, we found those with the most amount of fruits and vegetables in their diets also had the least amount of red meat," notes lead researcher Honglei Chen, clinical researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

Both the high meat and high milk diets in the study had lower intakes of fruit, vegetables and cereals.

Polk adds that fruits and vegetables are well known for their abilities to protect against many forms of cancer including lung, colon, rectum, as well as stomach and esophageal cancers. "If you start removing fruits and vegetables and adding more meat you are not getting the same protection as you would with a lot of fruits and vegetables."

A Balanced Diet

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends that a healthy diet should include a variety of grains, fruits and vegetables, dairy, meats, poultry and fish.

Dr. Kent L. Erickson, professor and chair of the department of cell biology and human anatomy at the University of California at Davis School of Medicine notes that American's dietary habits have changed over the last number of years and most diets do not follow the USDA guidelines, "We still have these guidelines of 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, but when we look at the statistics we find very few adults actually consume that much.

By: Michael Smith, MD
Reviewed By Charlotte Grayson, MD
WebMD Medical News Archive

Dec. 21, 2001 -- A diet high in red meat has been linked to colon cancer in the past. And now a new study shows that people who eat a lot of red meat are much more likely to get cancers of the stomach and the tube that takes food there, called the esophagus.

More than 20,000 Americans will get stomach cancer this year, according to the American Cancer Society. Nearly 13,000 will die. Most people diagnosed with stomach cancer are in their 60s and 70s.

The American Cancer Society says that more than 13,000 new cases of esophageal cancer will be found in the U.S. and will affect mostly men. Most people with esophageal cancer eventually die of this disease because it is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage.

Researchers at Tufts University in Boston looked at nearly 250 people with either cancer of the stomach or esophagus. They were then compared with about 450 healthy people. The goal was to determine if there was any difference in the types of foods eaten between those who did and didn't have cancer.

After evaluating questionnaires from all the participants, two main dietary patterns were identified. The "healthy diet" consisted of food choices with higher amounts of fruit, vegetables, and grain products and lower amounts of red meat, processed meats, and gravy. The "high-meat diet" was high in red meats and low in fruit and cereals.

Other dietary patterns identified were diets high in salty snacks, desserts, milk, or white bread.

The study results are published in the January issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Compared with the healthy diet, the people who ate a high-meat diet were more than 3.5 times as likely to have cancer of the esophagus and almost three times as likely to have stomach cancer.

The other diet patterns also didn't fare too well compared to the healthy diet.

The high-milk diet, which also included large amounts of red meat, more than doubled the risk of both types of cancer.

The salty-snacks diet almost tripled the risk, and the high-white-bread diet more than doubled the chance of having cancer of the esophagus. Gravy increased the chance of getting this type of cancer.

But there are foods that you can eat to help protect against these two cancers, according to this study.

Dairy products, fish, all vegetables, citrus fruit and juices, and dark bread each cut the risk of esophageal cancer by more than half. Poultry, dark-yellow vegetables, cereals, and tomatoes also reduced the risk.

Public release date: 20-Dec-2001
Contact: Elizabeth Horowitz, horowitz@ascn.faseb.org, 301-530-7038
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Dietary factors are recognized as contributing to the development of stomach and esophagus cancers. In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Chen et al. examined overall dietary patterns among patients diagnosed with distal stomach cancer, esophageal cancer, or cancer-free controls. Results suggest that several dietary patterns, particularly those high in red meat, confer a higher risk of stomach or esophageal cancer than other types of diets.

All participants in the study were white male or female residents of eastern Nebraska, 124 of whom had been diagnosed with stomach cancer, 124 with esophageal cancer, and 449 healthy controls. Interviewers conducted telephone dietary assessments with the case patients and control subjects or their proxies from 1992 to 1994. Food items on the questionnaire were sorted into 24 different groups that were used to establish a food-intake pattern for each participant.

Of all the dietary patterns identified, the “High Meat” diet tended to be associated with a 3.6-fold higher risk of esophageal cancer and 2-fold higher risk of stomach cancer when compared with the “Healthy Diet”. The “High Milk” diet, which also included large amounts of red meat, tended to be associated with 2-fold risk of both types of cancer. These two dietary patterns were more prevalent among the cancer patients, with 33% of stomach cancer patients and 35% of the esophageal cancer patients consuming either the “High Meat” or “High Milk” diet.

The analysis by Chen et al. suggests that red meat in particular may present a significant risk for these types of cancers, and that diets high in fruits, vegetables and whole grains may reduce risk. An accompanying editorial by Erickson traces the history and epidemiology of the varieties of stomach and esophageal cancer found in the United States. Recent changes in Americans’ diets, food preparation methods, individual cancer treatments, and lifestyles could influence dietary selection as well as cancer risk.

Honlei Chen et al., Dietary patterns and adenocarcinoma of the esophagus and distal stomach. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 75:137-44 (2002).

Kent L. Erickson, Dietary pattern analysis: a different approach to analyzing an old problem, cancer of the esophagus and stomach. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 75:5-7 (2002).

This media release is provided by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition to provide current information on nutrition-related research. This information should not be construed as medical advice. If you have a medical concern, consult your doctor.