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Soybean product consumption decreases risk of gastric cancer: results from the Health Examinees Study

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Abstract

Background

Epidemiological findings on the association between soybean product consumption and gastric cancer risk remain inconsistent. We evaluated the relationship between soybean product consumption and the risk of gastric cancer in a prospective cohort study in Korea.

Methods

This prospective cohort study included a total of 139,267 participants aged 40–69 years from the Health Examinees-Gem (HEXA-G) study between 2004 and 2013. Information on cancer diagnosis was retrieved from the Korea Central Cancer Registry until 31 December 2018. Multivariate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% of confidence intervals (CIs) for the risk of gastric cancer according to the consumption of soybean products were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models.

Results

A total of 767 incident cases of gastric cancer occurred over an average follow-up period of 9.21 years. We found that men who consumed two servings per week had 37% lower risk of gastric cancer compared with who consume those who almost never consumed (HR for tofu consumption of more than two servings/week vs. almost never consumed was 0.63 (95% CI 0.45, 0.89); p for trend = 0.04). Among men with a BMI of less than 25 kg/m2, increased consumption of soybean paste (p for trend = 0.02) and tofu (HR 0.51 (95% CI 0.32, 0.82 for more than two servings/week vs. almost never consumed); p for trend = 0.01) was associated with decreased risk of gastric cancer.

Conclusion

Our results suggest that a high consumption of soybean products has a protective effect against gastric cancer.

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Data availability

Data from the Health Examinees (HEXA) study is part of the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES), conducted by Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), Republic of Korea. The Korea Central Cancer Registry (KCCR) data is provisioned by the KDCA in cooperation with the National Cancer Center of Korea as a part of the KoGES. The dataset used for the analysis in this study is maintained and managed by the Division of Population Health Research at the National Institute of Health, which is a part of the KDCA. The HEXA Study dataset has been merged with the cancer registry data provided by National Cancer Center of Korea in a collaborative agreement.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Genome Research Institute, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and by a grant from the Seoul National University Hospital.

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Program funded by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [grant number 2004-E71004-00; 2005-E71011-00; 2005-E71009-00; 2006-E71001-00; 2006-E71004-00; 2006-E71010-00; 2006E71003-00; 2007-E71004-00; 2007-E71006-00; 2008-E7100600; 2008-E71008-00; 2009-E71009-00; 2010-E71006-00; 2011E71006-00; 2012-E71001-00; 2013-E71009-00]. This funding source had roles in study design and data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03080, Korea

    Woo-Kyoung Shin, Hwi-Won Lee, Dan Huang, Katherine De la Torre, Sukhong Min, Aesun Shin & Daehee Kang

  2. Integrated Major in Innovative Medical Science, Seoul National University Graduate School, Seoul, 03080, Korea

    Woo-Kyoung Shin, Dan Huang & Daehee Kang

  3. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Seoul National University Graduate School, Seoul, 03080, Korea

    Hwi-Won Lee & Katherine De la Torre

  4. Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, 03080, Korea

    Aesun Shin

  5. Department of Family Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, 03080, Korea

    Jong-koo Lee

  6. Department of Food and Nutrition, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Korea

    Jung Eun Lee

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  1. Woo-Kyoung Shin
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Contributions

WKS and DK designed and performed the data analysis and drafted the first manuscript. AS, JKL and DK collected the data and obtained study funding. HWL, DH, KT, AS, JL, JEL and DK provided critical review of the manuscript for important intellectual content.

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Correspondence to Daehee Kang.

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Shin, WK., Lee, HW., Huang, D. et al. Soybean product consumption decreases risk of gastric cancer: results from the Health Examinees Study. Eur J Nutr 62, 1743–1753 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-023-03115-x

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