It's called "fed cancer"! The more you like these eating habits, the closer you are to it

Expert of this article: Wang Xiaohuan, Doctor of Medicine, Fudan University

Some people describe gastric cancer as "cancer that is fed", which shows that gastric cancer is closely related to our bad living habits.

Drink porridge to nourish the stomach, drink more hot water, strong taste...

Many eating habits that you like may actually bring you closer to stomach cancer!

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The current situation of gastric cancer in my country is not optimistic. The incidence of gastric cancer ranks second among malignant tumor diseases. According to statistics, there are about 680,000 new cases of gastric cancer in my country each year, accounting for about half of the global cases. The mortality rate is also very high, ranking third among malignant tumor diseases. According to statistics, on average, one person dies of gastric cancer in my country every 3 minutes.

The situation is serious, but we can prevent cancer by changing our daily habits.

How far are we from stomach cancer?

The development of gastric cancer is a multi-step process that can be summarized as follows:

“① Local inflammation——② Atrophic gastritis——③ Intestinal metaplasia——④ Dysplasia——⑤ Gastric cancer”

1. Local gastritis:

The gastric mucosa is the mucosal tissue located on the inner wall of the stomach. The epithelial cells located on its surface are responsible for secreting mucus, which can repair damage to the gastric mucosa and form a natural barrier. The glands located in the lower layer are responsible for secreting gastric juice for digesting food.

Under normal circumstances, the gastric mucosa maintains a dynamic balance between damage and self-repair to ensure normal gastric function. However, when Helicobacter pylori infection, bad eating habits, improper medication and other factors cause irritation to the gastric mucosa that is difficult to repair, the dynamic balance of the stomach is broken and local inflammation occurs.

2. Atrophic gastritis:

When this stimulus lasts too long or is too strong, the inflammation takes a long time to subside, the gastric mucosa gradually becomes thinner, and the glands gradually become fewer, at which time it develops into atrophic gastritis.

3. Intestinal metaplasia:

When the gastric environment is in danger, the undifferentiated cells that should have developed into gastric epithelial cells gradually undergo intestinal metaplasia to form intestinal epithelial cells, which makes the gastric function damage "worse". This stage is intestinal metaplasia. Intestinal metaplasia is divided into complete and incomplete types. The latter is more likely to develop into cancer. Intestinal metaplasia is usually found during gastroscopy or pathological examination.

4. Dysplasia:

Abnormally differentiated intestinal epithelial cells proliferate and grow uncontrollably, and even grow abnormally, causing serious damage to the gastric environment. This is when dysplasia develops. Dysplasia is divided into low-grade and high-grade, and the latter is more likely to develop into cancer.

5. Gastric cancer:

The above lesions are all defined as precancerous lesions of the stomach. If the dysplasia develops further, it will actually develop into gastric cancer.

Will gastritis and gastric ulcer develop into gastric cancer?

Common stomach diseases include gastritis, gastric ulcer, Helicobacter pylori infection, etc.

#gastritis

Gastritis is generally unlikely to develop into gastric cancer. Most cases of gastritis can be cured with active treatment. However, if the patient does not actively treat gastritis after it occurs and the irritating factors of gastritis are not eliminated, then acute gastritis may develop into chronic gastritis and then into atrophic gastritis. If no intervention is taken, it may go down the road of cancer.

#gastric ulcer

Gastric ulcers are generally not prone to developing into gastric cancer, but, similarly, if the irritating factors are not removed and intervention is not given, the mucosal epithelium at the edge of the ulcer will be stimulated for a long time or strongly, and it will also go on the road to cancer. Therefore, if gastric ulcers do not heal for a long time and recur repeatedly, they must be taken seriously.

#Helicobacter pylori infection

Helicobacter pylori infection is closely related to gastric cancer and is an important factor causing gastric cancer. However, Helicobacter pylori infection does not necessarily mean that it will cause cancer. According to research, about 1% of people infected with Helicobacter pylori will develop gastric cancer.

Which groups of people are at higher risk of gastric cancer?

People with a family history of gastric cancer, especially first-degree relatives of gastric cancer patients.

People with chronic gastric disease/a history of gastric surgery.

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People who are long-term smokers and alcoholics.

People with poor eating habits.

People infected with Helicobacter pylori.

What habits bring us closer to stomach cancer?

The following bad living habits will bring us closer to stomach cancer:

Long-term smoking and alcoholism

As we all know, smoke contains a lot of substances that are harmful to health and even carcinogenic. Long-term smoking will undoubtedly promote gastric inflammation to develop into a carcinogenic path. Alcohol will irritate the gastric mucosa, causing damage to it and aggravating the further development of gastric inflammation.

Frequent consumption of fried, grilled, pickled, high-fat, and high-sugar foods

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Irregular eating habits, eating too fast, etc.

All of the above are risk factors for gastric cancer. If continued for a long time, they will cause irreparable damage to the gastric environment and develop into cancer.

In order to stay away from gastric cancer, we should start from the following aspects:

Avoid eating foods that are high in salt, sugar, smoked or moldy, and eat more fresh fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin C.

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· Develop good dining habits: use serving chopsticks, eat at regular times and in fixed amounts, and chew slowly.

· Develop good living habits: quit smoking, quit drinking, and keep exercising.

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