What Can I Do If I Am At Risk... Health Article

How can you reduce your risk of getting stomach cancer? Knowing the risk factors for the disease is a step in the right direction. Some risk factors, such as family history, are not within your control. But other risk factors, such as diet and smoking tobacco products, are things you can control.

Doctors think the steady decline of stomach cancer cases in the past several decades is due to changes in what we eat. For example, people now preserve food through refrigeration, rather than by salting or pickling. Also, people tend to eat fewer foods that are salted, smoked, and pickled. Eating plenty of fiber, vitamin A, and vitamin C may lower your risk for stomach cancer.

Quitting smoking is probably the single best decision you can make for your health. It reduces your risk for many medical problems. It decreases the risk for many cancers, including cancers of the stomach, head and neck, larynx, esophagus, lung, bladder, kidney, and pancreas.

You can reduce your risk for stomach cancer by doing these things.

• Limit the amount of alcohol you drink and do not use tobacco products.

• Avoid eating smoked and pickled foods and salted meats and fish.

• Eat fresh fruits and vegetables and plenty of whole grain foods, such as whole grain breads, cereals, pasta, and rice.

• Limit the amount of red meats you eat, especially ones that are high in nitrates or nitrites, such as those found in cured meats.

Aspirin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen, can lower the risk for getting stomach cancer by as much as 22%. However, they can cause gastrointestinal bleeding. Many doctors view aspirin or NSAIDs as an added benefit in preventing cancer when taken for other conditions, such as arthritis. But they do not recommend taking them only to reduce your cancer risk.