Risk Factors
Scientists have found several risk factors that make a person more likely to get stomach cancer. Some of these can be controlled, but others cannot.
Factors that increase your risk of stomach cancer include:
- A diet high in salty and smoked foods
- A diet low in fruits and vegetables
- Eating foods contaminated with aflatoxin fungus
- Family history of stomach cancer
- Infection with Helicobacter pylori
- Long-term stomach inflammation (chronic gastritis)
- Pernicious anemia
- Smoking
- Stomach polyps
People at greater risk for developing stomach cancer are those who work in coal mining, nickel refining, rubber and timber processing industries, and those exposed to asbestos fibers. Scientists do not know exactly how these risk factors cause cells of the stomach to become cancerous.