Study in Sweden published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 85 suggest that high intakes of vitamin A, retinol, and the provitamin A carotenoids α-carotene and β-carotene may reduce the risk of gastric cancer. These results support the hypothesis of a possible protective role of vitamin A in gastric carcinogenesis. Another study shows it may cut the risk of stomach cancer by 44 percent.
The study, which analyzed dietary data from over 36,000 women and 45,000 men, also reported that similar risk reductions are obtained from high dietary intake of both alpha- and beta-carotene.
Vitamin A is a generic term referring to both preformed vitamin A (retinol and its esters) and some carotenoids. Vitamin A is well known to be important in the general growth and differentiation of epithelial tissues. In animals, deficiency of vitamin A has been shown to enhance susceptibility to various chemical carcinogens in the respiratory tract, bladder, colon, and stomach.
Study published in American Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 121 found that stomach cancer cases showed a significantly higher proportion with lowered total vitamin A intake levels (odds ratio = 1.71) which remained constant across sex and socioeconomic status groupings.
Vitamin A and stomach cancer
