Canned Fish Consumption and Upper Digestive Tract Cancers

Canned fish is a widely consumed and affordable food whose effect on cancer risk has been little investigated. We studied its effect on risk of upper digestive tract cancers using data from a network of hospital-based case-control studies from Northern Italy providing information about canned fish consumption as a separate item and including a total of 946 patients with oral cavity and pharynx cancer, 304 patients with esophageal cancer, 230 patients with gastric cancer and 3273 controls. Twenty-three percent of patients with cancer of the oral cavity or pharynx and 26% of those with cancer of the stomach consumed >= 1 serving per week of canned fish, compared to 40% and 49% of the respective control group. Among cases of esophageal cancer and controls 22% consumed >= 1 serving per week of canned fish. Odds ratios for >= 1 vs <1 portion per week were 0.79 (95% Confidence Interval, CI: 0.64-0.97) for cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx, and 0.59 (95% CI: 0.41-0.86) for stomach cancer, whereas there was no inverse association with esophageal cancer. These findings suggest a favorable role of canned fish for selected upper digestive tract cancers.

Automated summary

This study investigated the relationship between canned fish consumption and the risk of upper digestive tract cancers. The findings suggest that canned fish may have a beneficial role in reducing the risk of oral cavity and pharynx cancer and gastric cancer, but not esophageal cancer.