The Study
Dietary Nitrates, Nitrites, and Nitrosamines Intake and the Risk of Gastric Cancer: A Meta-Analysis
This study is like putting together many smaller studies to see patterns. It shows that eating certain foods might be linked to stomach cancer risk, but it can't prove these foods actually cause cancer because other factors could be involved.
Analysis score
Maximum 100 for a systematic review with meta-analysis.
Where the score came from
Some chemicals in food might change stomach cancer risk.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 539 / 100
Quality score
The highest quality evidence. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses that pool randomized controlled trials, giving the most reliable summary of experimental evidence.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Small changes in risk; nitrites and NDMA are worse, but nitrates might be good if from healthy foods.
- 2Eating more nitrates (from veggies) lowered risk by 20%.
- 3Eating more nitrites (from processed meats) raised risk by 31%.
- 4Eating more NDMA (a bad chemical) raised risk by 34%.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Nutrients
Year
2015
Authors
P. Song, Lei Wu, W. Guan
Related Content
Claims (7)
When you eat processed meats like bacon or hot dogs, chemicals in them can turn into harmful substances in your stomach that can damage your DNA and might cause cancer.
Eating a lot of foods with nitrites might raise your chances of getting stomach cancer by about one-third, according to a big review of many studies.
Eating a lot of a chemical called NDMA in food might raise your chance of getting stomach cancer by about one-third, based on a big review of studies.
Eating more nitrites, even just a tiny bit extra each day, might raise your chance of getting stomach cancer, according to research that looked at several studies.
Eating more nitrate-rich foods might lower your chances of getting stomach cancer by about 20%, based on a big review of many studies, especially in European countries.
Different types of studies can give different results when looking at nitrates and nitrites. For example, some studies show a bigger effect than others just because of how they're designed.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.