Dr Prashant Chandra, Consultant OncoSurgeon, DPU Private Super Specialty Hospital explains how salt is the cause for stomach cancer
Every time we see our physicians, they tell us to cut back on salt since it raises blood pressure and heart problems. However, as of late, doctors have also been warning patients that if they cut back on salt, they could develop cancer. What is the real story behind the link between salt and cancer? How much salt is carcinogenic? Which type of cancer? To what extent are these assertions scientific? Let’s address these queries in the lines that follow.
A Japanese study first revealed that eating more than 10 grams of common salt daily raises the risk of stomach cancer, and the risk rises as daily salt intake increases. To further understand this, a study on rats was done, which revealed that more salt exposure to the stomach can cause cancer by mutating the stomach lining. Following this several studies from Japan, China, America and Spain confirmed that increased salt intake increases risk οf stomach cancer. Actually in a normal diet we consume around 4-6 grams of salt as adding excess salt would alter the taste of food . But certain foods like pickled vegetables, pickled fish (a famous cuisine in Japan), salted chips, salted peanuts, processed meat etc are rich in salt and increase our salt intake upto 16 grams in a day.
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The next thing we wonder about is how eating too much salt leads to stomach cancer. Two theories have been proposed to explain it. Firstly, too much salt destroys the stomach lining, known as the gastric mucosa, and causes it to change into a more tolerant lining that resembles the intestinal mucosa. This is known as intestinal metaplasia, a precancerous occurrence. Helicobacter pylori is one of the bacteria that thrives in the stomach due to the second excess saline environment. It is known that this bacteria encourages stomach cancer.
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So it is recommended is to avoid excess consumption of pickled, salted or processed food, keep our daily salt intake below 6 grams and not only protect ourself from heart ailments but also stomach cancer.
