If you overuse salt, you may have a 40% risk of getting this cancer, which is fatal.

If you overuse salt, you have a 40% higher risk of getting this cancer, which is the deadliest.Image: Teravolt/Wikimedia

According to the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN), We Spaniards consume an average of 9.8 grams of salt per day.which is a figure “much higher” than what experts recommend to avoid health problems.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends no more than 5 grams of salt per day. Or, which is the same thing, a dessert spoon. The Heart Foundation specifies that we only need 1.25 grams of salt per day.

And while excessive sodium intake is a major risk factor for high blood pressure, new research suggests it may also cause stomach cancer

, a type of tumor that usually has a poor prognosis. It is difficult to detect at an early stage, and when it does occur, it is usually at a very late stage.

The research results were published in a scientific journal Gastric center, explain that until now the risk of stomach cancer due to salt consumption was known only to the Asian population. Until now, there has been “little research in the West.”

We Spaniards consume twice the recommended amount of salt: how could this affect our health?

40% chance of getting stomach cancer

To reach this conclusion, a group led by Selma Kronsteiner-Gichevich And Tilma Kuhnfrom the MedUni public health center in Vienna analyzed data from more than 470,000 people in the United Kingdom who answered the question: “How often do you add salt to your food?” When comparing the results with the excretion of salts in the urine:

People who always or very often added salt to their food were 39% more likely to get sick stomach cancer (for eleven years) compared to those who never or rarely added a pinch of salt to their food.

Dr. Kronsteiner-Gichevich explains that “our results also withstood demographic, socioeconomic, and lifestyle factors and were equally valid for common comorbidities.”

With this study, which confirms that added salt consumption is strongly linked to stomach cancer, we want to “raise awareness of its negative effects and lay the foundation for the prevention of this tumor.”

Stomach cancer, another asymptomatic tumor

Risk factors for stomach cancer

In addition to salt, risk factors for stomach cancer include:

• Helicobacter pylori infection, especially if the infection is chronic and difficult to eradicate.

• Smoke.

• Gender: This is a more common cancer in men than in women.

• Obesity.

• Age. This is a more common type of tumor in patients over 50 years of age.

• Have a first-degree family history of stomach cancer.

• Race: It is more common and common among Asians than Westerners.

Symptoms and diagnosis of stomach cancer

One of the problems with stomach cancer is that in some cases it is completely asymptomatic, and when it does cause some discomfort, it is very nonspecific and can be confused with other symptoms. symptoms of other digestive pathologies such as ulcers or gastritis

.

Salt intake should be limited to no more than 5 grams per day (equivalent to a teaspoon of coffee).

Among the most common symptoms, digestive specialists say:

• stomach upset

• Weight loss

• Pain in the upper abdomen

• Changes in intestinal rhythms

• Lack of appetite

• Nausea

• Vomit

• Blood in stool or vomit

Because these symptoms are so nonspecific, experts recommend that anyone suffering from them see a doctor to determine what’s going on.