Red and processed meat intake is associated with higher gastric cancer risk: a meta-analysis of epidemiological observational studies
Zhu H, Yang X, Zhang C, Zhu C, Tao G, Zhao L, Tang S, Shu Z, Cai J, Dai S, Qin Q, Xu L, Cheng H, Sun X
PloS one · 90 citations
How it was studied
- Design
- Meta-analysis (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Clinical events such as disease or death
- Intake measured by
- Not stated
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
- Government
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Government
- Government of Jiangsu Province
- Nonprofit
- Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology
- Grants
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (BRA2012210); National Natural Science Foundation of China (81272504)
Based on 3 listed funder(s) and full-text disclosure statement.
Publication
- Published
- 2013-08-14 · PLoS One · vol. 8 · issue 8 · p. e70955
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science
- Cited
- 116 citations · more than 83% of similar papers · 1.9× the field average
- References
- 73 works
- Access
- Open access (journal) · CC-BY
- Research areas
- Nutritional Studies and Diet · Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact · Colorectal Cancer Screening and Detection
- Keywords
- Observational study, Epidemiology, Medicine, Cancer, Environmental health, Internal medicine, Biology, Bioinformatics
- MeSH
- humans, stomach neoplasms, risk, epidemiologic studies, eating, food handling, meat, observational studies as topic
14 authors
From CN
- Hongcheng ZhuJiangsu Province Hospital; Nanjing Medical University
- Xi YangJiangsu Province Hospital; Nanjing Medical University
- Chi ZhangJiangsu Province Hospital; Nanjing Medical University
- Chen Ying ZhuNanjing Medical University
- Guangzhou TaoHuaian First People’s Hospital; Nanjing Medical University
- Lianjun ZhaoNanjing Drum Tower Hospital; Nanjing Medical University
Abstract
Background
Red and processed meat was concluded as a limited-suggestive risk factor of gastric cancer by the World Cancer Research Fund. However, recent epidemiological studies have yielded inconclusive results.
Methods
We searched Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library from their inception to April 2013 for both cohort and case-control studies which assessed the association between red and/or processed meat intake and gastric cancer risk. Study-specific relative risk estimates were polled by random-effect or fixed-effect models.
Results
Twelve cohort and thirty case-control studies were included in the meta-analysis. Significant associations were found between both red (RR: 1.45, 95% CI: 1.22-1.73) and processed (RR: 1.45, 95% CI: 1.26-1.65) meat intake and gastric cancer risk generally. Positive findings were also existed in the items of beef (RR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.04-1.57), bacon (RR: 1.37, 95% CI: 1.17-1.61), ham (RR: 1.44, 95% CI: 1.00-2.06), and sausage (RR: 1.33, 95% CI: 1.16-1.52). When conducted by study design, the association was significant in case-control studies (RR: 1.63, 95% CI: 1.33-1.99) but not in cohort studies (RR: 1.02, 95% CI: 0.90-1.17) for red meat. Increased relative risks were seen in high-quality, adenocarcinoma, cardia and European-population studies for red meat. And most subgroup analysis confirmed the significant association between processed meat intake and gastric cancer risk.
Conclusions
Our findings indicate that consumption of red and/or processed meat contributes to increased gastric cancer risk. However, further investigation is needed to confirm the association, especially for red meat.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY).
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