Claim:
One study found that people who add salt to their food are 40% more likely to develop certain stomach cancers.
evaluation:
context
A 2024 observational study of more than 470,000 adults in the UK found that people who eat a lot of salt are more likely to develop certain stomach cancers than those who eat little or no salt, but researchers noted that limitations in the study mean the results cannot be generalized to the wider population.
In May 2024, a post on Reddit’s r/science subreddit suggested that people who regularly or frequently add salt to their food are much more likely to develop stomach cancer than those who rarely or never add salt. The post had over 2,700 upvotes at the time of publishing.
Through a Google keyword search, Snopes found multiple news publications that wrote about the study mentioned in the Reddit post, including News Medical Life Sciences, Newsweek, Technology Networks, and Medical News Today. The study, “Dietary salt addition as an indicator of gastric cancer risk in adults: a prospective study,” was published on April 17, 2024, in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Gastric Cancer.
Researchers from the Center for Public Health at the Medical University of Vienna analyzed data from more than 470,000 adults from UK Biobank, a large British biomedical database. Questionnaires administered between 2006 and 2010 included questions such as: “How often do you add salt to your food?” Responses were compared with measurements of study participants’ urinary salt excretion, as well as data from the National Cancer Registry.
According to a news release issued by the institute, people who regularly salt their food “were 41% more likely to develop stomach cancer than people who never touched a salt shaker” over a period of 11 years. (The English version of the news release is also available on the science news site Eureka Alert.)
“Our findings held true when accounting for demographic, socioeconomic and lifestyle factors, as well as common comorbidities,” study author Selma Kronsteiner-Gicevic said in a news release.
The researchers note that the study has several limitations. For example, they were unable to assess the influence of certain characteristics, such as gender, age, ethnicity, or smoking status. Also, because this is an observational study, other external factors may not have been fully taken into account. Because study participants volunteered, and because there are participation and age restrictions in the UK Biobank cohort, it is not possible to generalize the findings to the general UK population, or even to the wider population.
Despite its limitations, the findings add to a growing body of evidence supporting salt’s potential role in gastrointestinal cancer. For example, a 2009 study published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology found that salt “may cause gastric cancer by directly damaging gastric mucus” and that “considerable evidence” suggests that limiting salty foods is “a practical strategy to prevent gastric cancer.”
Similarly, a systematic review published in 2021 in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition found that “high intakes of salt, pickled vegetables, and processed meats were associated with a significant increased risk of stomach cancer. These increased risks were also observed when participants consumed moderate amounts of salt.”
In 2022, scientists concluded in the journal Nutrients that high dietary salt intake increases the risk of stomach cancer.
At the time of publication, stomach cancer is the fifth most common type of cancer in the world, according to the World Cancer Research Fund International, which notes that there is strong evidence that eating salted foods increases the risk of stomach cancer.
While the risk of stomach cancer increases with age, experts have noted that gastrointestinal cancers, including those of the stomach, liver, pancreas, and colon, are on the rise among younger people, especially women. The causes are not entirely clear, but researchers speculated in 2023 that it may be linked to changes in eating habits, increased intake of processed foods, rising rates of obesity, and other unhealthy behaviors, diet, and physical activity.
The 2024 study authors say their findings could help shed light on the relationship between gut health and diet.
“With our study we hope to raise awareness of the harmful effects of extremely high salt intake and provide a basis for measures to prevent stomach cancer,” said researcher Tilman Kuhn.
source
Regularly Adding Salt to Food May Increase Stomach Cancer Risk, May 15, 2024, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/salting-food-increased-stomach-gastric-cancer-risk.
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Kronsteiner-Gicevic, Selma, et al. “Dietary salt addition as an indicator of gastric cancer risk in adults: a prospective study.” Gastric Cancer, April 2024. Springer Link, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10120-024-01502-9.
People who reported always or often adding salt to their food were 39% more likely to develop stomach cancer over an observation period of approximately 11 years compared to people who never or rarely added a pinch of salt to their food – Google Search. https://www.google.com/search?q=People+who+said+they+always+or+frequently+added+salt+to+their+food+were+39%25+more+likely+to+develop+stomach+cancer+over+an+observation+period+of+around+11+years+than+those+who+never+or+rarely+added+an+extra+pinch+of+salt+to+their+food&oq=People+who+said+they+alway People who add more than a pinch of salt to their food or frequently were 39%25 more likely to develop stomach cancer over an observation period of around 11 years than those who never or rarely added salt to their food. &gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQRRg80gEHODIxajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8. Accessed May 29, 2024.
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—. “Frequent Salting of Food Increases the Risk of Gastric Cancer.” Medical University of Vienna, https://public-health.meduniwien.ac.at/en/about-us/news/news/haeufiges-nachsalzen-beim-essen-erhoeht-risiko-fuer-magenkrebs-1/. Accessed May 29, 2024.
Wang, Xiao-Qin, et al., “Salt intake and gastric cancer risk: a review of epidemiological and biological evidence.” World Journal of Gastroenterology: WJG, vol. 15, no. 18, May 2009, pp. 2204–13. PubMed Central, https://doi.org/10.3748/wjg.15.2204.
“Why is Stomach Cancer Rising in Young Women?” Premium, 29 May 2024, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/stomach-cancer-rising-young-women.
Wu, Bo, et al. “Dietary salt intake and gastric cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” Frontiers in Nutrition, Volume 8, December 2021. Frontiers, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2021.801228.
Wu, Xiaomin, et al. “Effect of dietary salt intake on the risk of gastric cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of case-control studies.” Nutrients, vol. 14, no. 20, October 2022, p. 4260. PubMed Central, https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14204260.
