Association Between Dietary Inflammatory Index and Gastric Adenocarcinoma: A Multicenter Case-Control Study in Brazil

Background: Few studies have evaluated the association between diet-related inflammation and gastric adenocarcinoma (GA) and evidence is scarce in Brazil. This study evaluated the association between a pro-inflammatory diet and GA.

Methods: A multicenter case-control study was conducted in Brazil. A total of 1645 participants-492 cases, 377 endoscopy controls, and 776 hospital controls-were included. Energy-adjusted Dietary Inflammatory Index (E-DII) scores were derived from a validated food frequency questionnaire. We used binary and multinomial logistic regression models for the analysis of total GA, and its subtypes (cardia and non-cardia, intestinal, and diffuse histological subtypes).

Results: In cases versus endoscopy controls, a pro-inflammatory diet, estimated by higher E-DII scores, was associated with a higher risk GA (OR: 2.60, 1.16-5.70), of non-cardia GA (OR: 2.90, 1.06-7.82), and diffuse subtype (OR: 3.93, 1.59-9.70). In cases versus hospital controls, higher E-DII scores were associated with a higher risk of GA (OR: 2.70, 1.60-4.54), of cardia GA (OR: 3.31, 1.32-8.24), non-cardia GA (OR: 2.97, 1.64-5.39), and both intestinal (OR: 2.82, 1.38-5.74) and diffuse GA (OR: 2.50, 1.54-5.11) subtypes.

Conclusions: This study provides evidence that a pro-inflammatory diet is associated with an increased risk of GA in Brazil. E-DII requires the inclusion of sodium due to its importance in carcinogenesis.