What is the correlation between diet and stomach cancer incidence rates in the USA over the past 20 years?

Project by Polygence alum David

What is the correlation between diet and stomach cancer incidence rates in the USA over the past 20 years?

Project's result

There is a correlation between an increase in stomach cancer incidence and the factors I listed, such as alcohol, fats, and salt intake.

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Summary

Despite advances in healthcare over the past 20 years, stomach cancer continues to affect thousands of people worldwide. There are approximately 26,000 new cases of stomach cancer per year in the USA alone. Due to stomach cancer’s high mortality rate, it is important to help prevent residents from this deadly disease. One of the main factors that correlate with stomach cancer is the diet of the individual. Diet has already been known to affect Gastro- Intestinal related diseases. In this paper, we will be exploring specific diet changes that can assist in lowering one's chances of getting stomach cancer. Diet information of the United States population from 2001 to 2017 was extracted from the Agriculture Research Service for the US. Department of Agriculture database. Additionally corresponding stomach cancer incidence rates were pulled from the CDC Cancer Database. We will use linear regressions and scatterplots to examine trends between changes in the American diet and stomach cancer incidence rates. Specific focus will be played to nutrients already shown to be correlated with stomach cancer rates.

Shashwat

Shashwat

Polygence mentor

MD/PhD Doctor of Medicine and of Philosophy candidate

Subjects

Neuroscience, Medicine, Biology

Expertise

Neurosurgery, Neuro-Oncology, Neurology, Medical Imaging

David

David

Student

Hello! My name is David John Sam and my Polygence project is on “Relationship between stomach cancer and the dietary habits”. I chose to work on this project since I was interested in learning about the influence of cultural and genetic factors on the prevalence of cancer. I would like to to continue my research by taking advanced courses on biology and anthropology when I go to college.

School

Quarry Lane School

Graduation Year

2025

Project review

“All of them”

About my mentor

“He was amazing and guided me through all of the steps and made sure I understood everything that was apart of the process.”