Purpose: We sought to examine associations between dietary patterns and the risk of stomach cancer mortality in a cohort study in Japan.
Methods: Factor analysis on food frequency questionnaire was conducted among 25,730 males and 37,673 females in a cohort study in Japan; we identified three dietary patterns, termed "vegetable"; "animal food"; and "dairy product". The Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) with stomach cancer mortality.
Results: The "vegetable" pattern showed no association with stomach cancer mortality in either sex. The "dairy product" pattern was significantly associated with a decreased risk of stomach cancer in males, with multivariate HRs of 0.82 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.61-1.10), 0.74 (95% CI: 0.54-1.01), and 0.72 (95% CI: 0.52-0.99) for the second, third, and fourth quartiles, respectively. In addition, the "animal food" pattern tended to be associated with an increased risk in females, but non-significant, with HRs for respective quartiles of 1.45 (95% CI: 0.92-2.29), 1.32 (95% CI: 0.81-2.16), and 1.51 (95% CI: 0.78-2.21).
Conclusions: A diet high in dairy products may be associated with a decreased risk of stomach cancer mortality in males. We did not observe any significant association of this condition with other dietary patterns in either sex.
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