Frequently adding salt to your meal increases the risk of stomach cancer

A long-term study by the Medical University of Vienna has now shown for the first time that this risk is also reflected in cancer statistics in Europe. As the analysis recently published in the journal "Gastric Cancer" shows, people who frequently add salt to their food are around 40 percent more likely to develop stomach cancer than those who do not use the salt shaker at the table.

Data from more than 470,000 adults from the large-scale British cohort study “UK-Biobank” were analyzed. Among other things, the answers to the question: “How often do you add salt to your meals?” were collected using a questionnaire between 2006 and 2010. The research team led by Selma Kronsteiner-Gicevic and Tilman Kühn from the Center for Public Health at MedUni Vienna compared the results of the survey with salt excretion in urine and with data from national cancer registries. It turned out that people who said they always or often added salt to their food were 39 percent more likely to develop stomach cancer over an observation period of around eleven years than those who never or rarely added an extra pinch of salt to their food . “Our results also stood up to the consideration of demographic, socio-economic and lifestyle factors and were equally applicable to prevalent comorbidities,” says first author Selma Kronsteiner-Gicevic, underlining the significance of the results.

Stomach cancer is affecting more and more young people

In the list of the most common types of cancer worldwide, stomach cancer is in fifth place. The risk of this cancer increases with age, but recent statistics paint a worrying picture of an increase in adults under 50. Risk factors include tobacco and alcohol consumption, infection with Helicobacter Pylori, overweight and obesity. The fact that very salty diets increase the risk of stomach cancer has been proven in studies with Asian populations who often eat foods preserved in salt, heavily salted fish or extremely salty marinades and sauces.

“Our research shows the connection between the frequency of salt intake and stomach cancer, even in Western countries,” emphasizes first author Selma Kronsteiner-Gicevic. “With our study, we want to raise awareness of the negative effects of extremely high salt consumption and provide a basis for measures to prevent stomach cancer,” summarizes study leader Tilman Kühn.

Publication: Gastric Cancer
Adding salt to food at table as an indicator of gastric cancer risk among adults: a prospective study. Selma Kronsteiner‑Gicevic, Alysha S. Thompson, Martina Gaggl, William Bell, Aedín Cassidy, Tilman Kühn. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10120-024-01502-9