Intestinal metaplasia in Japan: association with diet.

Of 1,749 volunteers in a screening program for gastric cancer in Japan, 206 men and 181 women received a systematic gastroscopic examination and responded to a dietary questionnaire estimating their quantitative intake of 33 food items during the past weeks. When diet was correlated with intestinal metaplasia (a precursor lesion of gastric carcinoma) found in gastroscopic biopsies, it was observed that more dried fish consumption and less vitamin A intake increased the extent of intestinal metaplasia in men. For women, there was a significant negative association of ume (pickled plum) intake with intestinal metaplasia. The implications of these findings were discussed in relation to gastric cancer.