Serum micronutrient levels and their relationship to precancerous gastric lesions were studied in 600 subjects aged 35-64 years living in high-risk area of gastric cancer in Linqu County, Shandong Province. Serum micronutrient levels in local residents were 0.54 micrograms/ml, 0.29 micrograms/ml, 3.14 micrograms/ml, 9.62 micrograms/ml, 30.2 micrograms/L, 924 micrograms/L, 1 016 micrograms/L, and 42.0 micrograms/L for vitamin A, beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, zinc, copper and ferritin, respectively. Serum levels of beta-carotene, vitamin C and ferritin, and ratio of serum levels of zinc and copper correlated inversely to severity of pathological changes in gastric mucous membrane. With increase of serum level of beta-carotene or vitamin C, odds ratios (OR) of intestinal dysplasia and metaplasia lowered to 0.8, 0.6 and 0.9, 0.5, respectively, and with increase of those of both beta-carotene and vitamin C, their OR lowered further to 0.16, with patients of chronically atrophic gastritis as controls. It indicated maybe beta-carotene and vitamin C played a strong contributing role in protecting from development of precancerous gastric lesions.