The Silent Killer Behind 76% of Stomach Cancers
The exact cause of many types of cancer remains a mystery.
But that’s often not the case with stomach cancer.
Researchers have identified the culprit behind 76 percent of stomach cancers worldwide.
Fortunately, doctors also know exactly how to eliminate it from your body.
Stomach cancer is typically silent—but deadly.
It often flies under the radar until it’s advanced—when treatments often only delay the inevitable.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that researchers have identified what causes most cases of this killer:
- pylori bacterium.
- pylori germs burrow into your stomach lining. You can catch it from contaminated surfaces, or from the saliva of an infected person (like through kissing or sharing utensils).
- pylori often doesn’t cause any symptoms. But when it does, it can show up as burning stomach pain, nausea, unexplained weight loss, and feeling full quickly. It can also lead to stomach ulcers.
Your doctor can run tests to detect the presence of H. pylori.
If you’re infected, you’ll likely be put on a “triple therapy” to eradicate it. This includes two antibiotics and a proton pump inhibitor (PPI).
I’m not a fan of long-term PPI use—but for short-term H. pylori treatment, it works well.
In addition to treating an H. pylori infection, other ways to reduce your risk of stomach cancer include eating a whole foods diet, avoiding inflammatory foods (such as fried and processed foods), exercising, and not smoking.
Research also shows a multivitamin can cut stomach cancer risk by up to 30 percent.
Knowing a main cause of stomach cancer means you can take targeted action to prevent it.
P.S. Your do-it-yourself “prescription” for cancer survival.
View Sources
Park, J.Y., Georges, D., Alberts, C.J. et al. Global lifetime estimates of expected and preventable gastric cancers across 185 countries. Nat Med (2025).
