Short-term Helicobacter pylori treatment and long-term vitamin supplements independently reduce gastric cancer incidence and mortality, according to the latest results from a two-decades-long randomised controlled trial.

And garlic supplements may help patients who develop the cancer to live longer, according to new data from 3365 adults (age 35-64) at high risk of gastric cancer, according to the findings published in the BMJ.

After 22 years of follow-up, Peking University researchers running the Shandong Intervention Trial found that patients with H. pylori treated with amoxicillin and omeprazole for two weeks were around half as likely to develop gastric cancer as patients taking a placebo.

And participants who took vitamins (C, E and selenium ) for seven years and beta carotene for six months were 36% less likely to develop the cancer than those taking a placebo.