What Are The Causes Of Stomach Cancer?

How Do You Get Stomach Cancer?

This article has been written to answer the questions what are the causes of stomach cancer, and how do you get stomach cancer. 

There's still debate in the medical community about what the causes of stomach cancer are. But the causes of stomach cancer seem to include:

• family history and genetic factors that cause a predisposition to stomach cancer,
• radiation exposure,
• two types of anemia: pernicious anemia and megaloblastic anemia,
• a stomach disorder known as Menetrier's disease, which is also called atrophic gastritis,
• stomach surgery involving a partial removal of the stomach,
• smoking,  
• diet and eating habits (possibly related to cultural and geographical factors) and 
• an infection caused by the presence of a bacterium called Helicobacter pylori.

Possible dietary causes of stomach cancer The dietary risk factors that may somehow be related to stomach cancer appear to be a high intake of salt and preservatives called nitrates, which are found in salted, pickled, or smoked foods. Those whose diets include few leafy green vegetables and fruit also seem to be at a high risk for stomach cancer.

In the Far East, especially Japan, stomach cancer rates are about ten times higher than they are in the United States. Certain dietary factors may be the cause, or it could be a higher rate of Helicobacter pylori infections. See stomach cancer diet.

How do you get stomach cancer from helicobacter pylori? Helicobacter pylori infections are now thought to be the cause of most cases of stomach cancer involving the bottom half of the stomach. Helicobacter pylori seems to trigger changes to the lining of the stomach.

Helicobacter pylori, which is often referred to as H. pylori, does not seem to be a cause in cases of stomach cancer near the junction between the esophagus and the stomach.

Related information: stomach cancer symptoms and signs, stomach cancer risk factors and stomach cancer testing.