Meat consumption and gastric cancer risk: The Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study.

BACKGROUND The association of meat consumption with gastric cancer is inconclusive. OBJECTIVE We examined the association of meat consumption with gastric cancer risk among Japanese males and females. METHODS This cohort study included 42,328 male and 48,176 female participants of the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study, who were aged 45 to 74 y at recruitment. Dietary intake data were collected from January 1, 1995 to December 31, 1999 using a validated food frequency questionnaire. HRs and 95% CIs for gastric cancer were estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression models. RESULTS During a mean follow-up of 15 y, 1868 male and 833 female incident gastric cancer cases were identified. Intake of total and subtypes of meat was not associated with total gastric cancer. However, higher chicken consumption was associated with reduced distal gastric cancer risk in females (HR for quintile 5 vs. quintile 1, 0.75 (95% CI 0.56, 0.99), P trend = 0.027], with a similar but non-significant risk reduction among females with Helicobacter pylori [HR 0.59 (95% CI 0.29, 1.20), P trend = 0.06] in subgroup analysis. CONCLUSIONS Meat consumption was not associated with total gastric cancer risk.