We investigated gastric cancer risk in relation to dietary glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL), which represent indirect measures of carbohydrate absorption and consequently of dietary insulin demand, in a case-control study conducted in northern Italy between 1997 and 2007, including 230 patients with the incident, histologically confirmed gastric cancer and 547 frequency matched controls, admitted to the same hospitals as cases with acute non-neoplastic conditions. The gene discussed is INS; the disease is gastric cancer.