Gastric cancer is the fourth most incident neoplasm and the second most common cause of death from cancer in the world. The environmental risk factors, therefore, modifiable for stomach cancer are numerous and their understanding is necessary to make preventive interventions feasible, since the diagnosis, often performed late, makes adequate treatment difficult and drastically worsens the prognosis of these patients. The present study is an integrative literature review with the objective of discussing the environmental risk factors for the genesis of gastric cancer. Data were collected from journals indexed in PUBMED, Web of Science, Scopus and Science Direct databases, being selected using the following descriptors: risk factors, gastric cancer, stomach cancer, stomach neoplasm, gastric neoplasm and carcinogenesis (DeCs and MeSH terms). 12 publications were identified, whose textual analysis allowed the study of the following risk factors: infection by Helicobacter pylori, infection by HBV (hepatitis B virus), HCV (hepatitis C virus), EBV (Epstein-Barr virus), ingestion of processed foods, smoke exposure, sarcopenia, obesity, and sociodemographic factors. The aforementioned risk factors were evaluated for their association with gastric cancer and the metabolic or immunological pathway that leads to gastric carcinogenesis. The studied literature shows that H. pylori infection, viral infection, lifestyle and low socioeconomic status contribute to the development of this disease and exposes the ways in which some of these agents act.
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