Half of the world's stomach cancer is in China? Academician advises: If you don't want to get into stomach cancer, you must stick to 4 habits

Zuo Shan (pseudonym) is a young white-collar worker. In the two years after graduation, she has been a newcomer in the workplace. She often has irregular meals, and works overtime to stay up late, which is very stressful.

Since the end of last year, Zuo Shan has felt a dull pain in her stomach from time to time, sometimes there is a tingling sensation, but it is not serious, and it is over . At the time, I thought it was caused by indigestion, but I didn't care too much.

In this way, Zuo Shan's problems dragged on until March of this year, and the stomach pain became more and more serious. In addition to the dull pain, there was also a persistent strong pain. Some time ago, he also had the symptoms of vomiting blood . She was so frightened that she rushed to the local hospital for examination.

In the end, the doctor found after gastroscopy and pathological examination that it turned out to be a gastric cancer lesion, and finally could only face the consequences of total gastrectomy.

1. Half of the world's gastric cancers are in China, why?

According to the latest global cancer burden data released by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 2020, there were 4.57 million new cancers in China, of which the global incidence of gastric cancer was 1.09 million, while the number of new gastric cancer cases in China was 480,000 , accounting for 480,000. Why is the incidence of gastric cancer so high in China?

Published in The Lancet, from Academician Shen Hongbing of Nanjing Medical University, Prof. Jin Guangfu, Prof. Li Liming of Peking University, Prof. Lu Jun, Prof. Wei Qingyi of Fudan University, Prof. Yang Ming of Shandong First Medical University Affiliated Cancer Hospital, etc. Regarding the research on the risk of gastric cancer, the analysis pointed out that genetic risk and lifestyle are the two major factors that lead to the high incidence of gastric cancer in Chinese .

Smoking, drinking alcohol, eating pickled food frequently, and taking a longer intake of fresh fruits and vegetables will significantly increase the risk of gastric cancer. In addition, gastric cancer is also closely related to genetic risk. The population with the highest genetic risk has a 108% increased risk of gastric cancer, that is, the higher the genetic risk, the higher the incidence of gastric cancer.

In addition, Helicobacter pylori is also one of the root causes of the high incidence of gastric cancer . Clinical studies have found that the detection rate of Hp in gastric mucosal biopsy specimens of patients with chronic gastritis can reach 80% to 90%, while that of patients with peptic ulcer is higher, reaching more than 95%, or even close to 100%.

2. Early gastric cancer is not painful or itchy, and don’t be careless if you find abnormalities

Professor Li Zhaoshen, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, once said that about 90% of gastric cancer patients in China were in the middle and late stages when the disease was discovered , missing the best time for diagnosis and treatment. Why is gastric cancer difficult to detect at an early stage?

Our stomach can be divided into four layers, namely mucosa, submucosa, muscle and serosa. Gastric cancer lesions generally originate from the mucosal layer, and the early lesions are superficial, with little damage to the mucosa and will not affect the digestive tract, so there are few typical symptoms.

Even if there is bloating, indigestion, stomach pain, etc., it will be regarded as gastritis, gastric ulcer and other diseases. It can be said that if it is not checked by special instruments, it is difficult to find the situation in the stomach . Therefore, when these abnormal signals of gastric cancer appear, it is necessary to be vigilant:

1. Heartburn, acid reflux

The appearance of gastric cancer inhibits the ability of gastric peristalsis. After eating, gastric acid may flow back to the esophagus with food, causing heartburn and acid regurgitation.

2. Abnormal fullness after eating

There is a noticeable feeling of fullness after ingesting food, and even after eating a small amount of food , you will feel inexplicably full.

3. Abdominal mass

Patients with stomach problems should pay special attention to whether there is a lump in the abdomen, a lump that is hard and painful to squeeze , and needs to be extra vigilant.

4. Persistent, irregular stomach pain

Chronic gastritis, gastric ulcer and other diseases usually have regular persistent pain, such as gastric ulcer, usually one hour after meals. If the pain occurs intermittently and there is no regularity at all, it is necessary to be alert to the possibility of cancer.

Of course, the appearance of the above symptoms does not necessarily mean that it is gastric cancer. It's just that the early stage of gastric cancer is not typical. In order to detect the disease earlier, it is better to have a gastroscope as soon as possible, to be "safe" .

3. Academician: To prevent gastric cancer, we must first adhere to a good lifestyle

In a study published in The Lancet by the team of Academician Shen Hongbing from Nanjing Medical University, the article mentioned that adhering to a good lifestyle, including not smoking, not drinking alcohol, eating less pickled food, and eating more fresh fruits and vegetables , can significantly improve the health of the population. Reduce the incidence of gastric cancer.

1. Do not smoke

Smoking has a certain relationship with gastric cancer. Smoke contains a variety of carcinogenic or cancer-promoting substances, which is an important cause of gastric cancer.

In addition, long-term smoking will not only damage the lungs, but also affect hearing, oral cavity, age-related macular, intelligence and other problems. Compared with smokers, non-smokers live an average of 10 years longer .

2. Do not drink alcohol

In a study published in "Science Advances", a Japanese research institution compared the genetic data of hundreds of gastric cancer patients and found that in the East Asian population, people with certain drinking habits have a higher risk of developing gastric cancer . The researchers analyzed that this is likely to be related to the prevalence of ALDH2 alleles or CDH1 variants in East Asian populations.

It can be seen that if you want to reduce the risk of gastric cancer, you must not only quit smoking, but also drink less or no alcohol.

3. Eat less pickled food

Preserved foods include salted fish, ham, bacon, smoked meat, etc. Because of the high salt content, it will directly damage the gastric mucosa , and the nitrite contained in it will be converted into nitrosamines under the action of gastric acid and bacteria. It is more likely to cause stomach cancer, so it is best to eat less every day.

4. Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables

Eating more vegetables and fruits can prevent stomach cancer. Vegetables and fruits are rich in vitamins , which can help reduce the incidence of stomach cancer. It is recommended that everyone eat a pound of vegetables and half a pound of fruit every day.

Cancer can be prevented and controlled, and the risk of gastric cancer can be further reduced by improving dietary patterns, controlling tobacco, alcohol consumption, and maintaining exercise. Of course, regular physical examination is also very important. For people with high risk of gastric cancer, endoscopy should be performed once a year to detect gastric conditions in time, so as to achieve early suppression and avoid deterioration.

References:

[1] "20% of the population contributes to nearly half of gastric cancer: Academician Shen Hongbing and others reveal two major factors for the high incidence of gastric cancer in China, and how to prevent it". Biology World. 2021-03-30

[2] Academician Shen Hongbing: Adhering to a healthy lifestyle can significantly reduce the total genetic risk of cancer. China Biotechnology Network. 2021-10-27

[3] "East Asians: Drinking + Gene Mutation = Higher Risk of Gastric Cancer". China Biotechnology Network. 2020-05-09

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