Dietary vitamin D and gastric cancer risk within the stomach cancer pooling (stop) project

Purpose: The evidence regarding the role of vitamin D on gastric cancer (GC) is controversial. Within the Stomach cancer Pooling (StoP) Project, a global consortium of epidemiological studies on GC, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between dietary vitamin D and GC risk. Methods: Five case-control studies were included in the analysis, accounting for 1875 cases and 5899 controls. Odds ratios (OR) of GC and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) for tertiles of vitamin D intake were computed using logistic regression models adjusted for relevant confounders, including energy intake. The pooled ORs were computed using random-effect models. Results: The pooled OR of GC for the highest compared to the lowest tertile of vitamin D intake was 1.06 (95% CI 0.80-1.39), with a p for heterogeneity of 0.019. No significant association was found across strata of sex, age, socioeconomic status, smoking status, alcohol intake, and vegetable and fruit consumption. Conclusions: Our pooled analysis indicates that there is no association between dietary vitamin D and the risk of GC.