High Dietary Salt Intake Combined with Ulcers Increases Cancer Risk

Gastric problems tend to grow slowly over the years and gastric cancer is considered the second-leading cause of cancer-associated death in the world. One of the main gastric irritants is sodium, and salt intake is linked with the increased risk of gastric cancer.

A latest study published in the journal Infection and Immunity states that high dietary salt intake, when combined with the bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) which causes ulcers, doubles the risk of cancer.

The study was conducted by Timothy L. Cover and his colleagues at the Vanderbilt University.

Salt increases the risk of stomach cancer by increasing the extent of H. pylori infection by causing inflammation and a direct damage to the stomach tissue.

In order to prove the hypothesis, the researchers infected Mongolian gerbils, also known as desert rats, with H. pylori. The gerbils were divided into two groups, in which one received a regular diet and the other group received a diet high in salt. After this, the researchers examined the stomach tissues of the animals and noticed that the group that had a high intake of salt developed cancer, when compared to 58 percent of those animals that had a regular diet.

They noticed that gastric cancer developed only in the presence of a specific bacterial oncoprotein known as CagA. This is produced by H. pylori. Those animals that had a high salt intake and were infected with mutant H. pylori and did not produce CagA did not have gastric cancer.

This is the first study that has shown a strong association between high intake of salt and infection with H. pylori producing CagA.

"In several parts of the world that have high rates of gastric cancer, there is a high prevalence of cagA+ strains and a large proportion of the population consumes a high-salt diet," the investigators said in a press statement.

According to the study report, nearly 50 percent humans are infected with H. pylori, and 90 percent are without symptoms.