Dietary Patterns and Risk of Stomach Cancer Mortality: The Japan Collaborative Cohort Study

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] 061-1.10), 0 74 (95% CI 054-1 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, bur 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. Ann Epidemiol 2010, 20 356-363 (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc All rights reserved.