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Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
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Prevention
By Mayo Clinic staffIt's not clear what causes stomach cancer, so there's no way to prevent it. But you can take steps to reduce your risk of stomach cancer by making small changes to your everyday life. For instance, try to:
- Eat more fruits and vegetables. Try to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet each day. Choose a wide variety of colorful fruits and vegetables.
- Reduce the amount of salty and smoked foods you eat. Protect your stomach by limiting these foods. Experiment with herbs and other ways of flavoring foods that don't add sodium.
- Stop smoking. If you smoke, quit. If you don't smoke, don't start. Smoking increases your risk of stomach cancer, as well as many other types of cancer. Quitting smoking can be very difficult, so ask your doctor for help.
- Ask your doctor about your risk of stomach cancer. Some medical conditions increase your risk of stomach cancer, such as anemia, gastritis and stomach polyps. If you've been diagnosed with one of these conditions, ask your doctor how this affects your stomach cancer risk. Together you may consider periodic endoscopy to look for signs of stomach cancer. There are no guidelines to determine who should undergo screening for stomach cancer in the United States. But in some cases, you and your doctor may decide your risk is high enough that the benefits of screening outweigh the potential risks.
References
- Gastric cancer. Fort Washington, Pa.: National Comprehensive Cancer Network. http://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/PDF/gastric.pdf. Accessed Feb. 23, 2009.
- Gastric cancer treatment (PDQ) patient version. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/gastric/patient/allpages/print. Accessed Feb. 23, 2009.
- Gunderson LL, et al. Cancer of the stomach. In: Abeloff MD, et al. Abeloff's Clinical Oncology. 4th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone; 2008:1431.
- What is stomach cancer? American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_1X_What_is_stomach_cancer_40.asp. Accessed Feb. 23, 2009.
- Stomach cancer. Cancer.Net. http://www.cancer.net/patient/Cancer+Types/Stomach+Cancer. Accessed Feb. 23, 2009.
- Feldman M, et al. Sleisenger & Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, Management. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2006:378.
- Tsugane S, et al. Diet and the risk of gastric cancer: Review of epidemiological evidence. Gastric Cancer. 2007;10:75.
- Stomach (gastric) cancer prevention (PDQ) patient version. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/prevention/gastric/patient/allpages/print. Accessed Feb. 23, 2009.
- Stomach (gastric) cancer screening (PDQ) patient version. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/screening/gastric/patient/allpages/print. Accessed Feb. 23, 2009.
- World Cancer Research Fund. Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective. Washington, D.C.: American Institute for Cancer Research; 2007:144.
