[Morning reading] Are these vegetables pulled into the ＂cancer blacklist＂？

Jiangsu women’s warm-hearted home

Click > > Vegetables have always played an important role in human diet. They are rich in vitamins, minerals and cellulose. They are an important source of nutrition and green organic food in everyone’s mind.

However, there is a saying on the Internet that "vegetables cause cancer", which has attracted many people’s attention. There is even an article saying: "Nowadays, the high incidence of cancer is because some vegetables contain carcinogens, so that toxins accumulate in the body over time and become cancer over time." The healthy vegetables in my impression have been called "poisonous vegetables". What’s the matter?

01

These vegetables are said to cause cancer?

edible tender leaves of brakes

Pteridium aquilinum has always been a very popular dish, but in recent years, the saying that "Pteridium aquilinum causes cancer" has intensified. Why can eating Pteridium aquilinum also cause cancer?

In fact, the "carcinogenicity" of bracken comes from its carcinogen components, especially protopterin, which is a genotoxic carcinogen. After ingesting it, the human body will produce "dienone compounds", which is highly carcinogenic.

However, there is no need to be too alarmed. The occurrence of cancer is the result of many factors such as heredity, environment and living habits. Moreover, to achieve the carcinogenic amount, a person must eat 350 g ~ 3.5 kg of bracken for at least 20 years in a row, and it is possible to "successfully cause cancer". Moreover, although protopterin has carcinogenic risk, the evidence of carcinogenicity in actual experiments is not sufficient, and it is far lower than the pickled products that people are more likely to come into contact with in their lives, such as bacon, pickles and other foods. In addition, protopterin is easily soluble in hot water, so the harmful substances in it will be destroyed as long as it is treated with blanching water.

houttuynia cordata

The reason why Houttuynia cordata Thunb is carcinogenic is that it contains aristolochic acid, a substance listed as a carcinogen by WHO as early as 2012. Large dose intake can lead to kidney cancer and liver cancer. However, aristolochic acid is the general name of a class of compounds, and its main toxic components are aristolochic acid I and aristolochic acid II, while the main components in Houttuynia cordata Thunb are aristolochian lactam -BLL, aristolochian lactam -ALL and aristolochian lactam -FLL. At present, there is no exact study to prove whether they have cancer risk.

In addition, it is not rigorous to talk about toxicity regardless of dosage. The total content of aristolochian lactam contained in Houttuynia cordata Thunb is 0.016g/kg, and such a low content will hardly have any impact on health.

Chayote

Net-transmitted fingered citron is carcinogenic because it will produce acrylamide after being fried at high temperature, and acrylamide is a potential carcinogen with neurotoxicity.

In fact, not only bergamot, but also many foods will produce acrylamide when cooked at high temperature, such as twisted dough sticks, fried dough sticks, biscuits, bread, potato chips and other foods that need baking and puffing.

Moreover, the international authoritative magazine Food and Chemical Toxicology pointed out that the upper limit of safe intake of acrylamide is 2.6 micrograms per kilogram of body weight, and the safe intake of neurotoxicity is 40 micrograms per kilogram of body weight. According to this standard, an adult with a weight of 70kg almost needs to eat more than ten kilograms of fried bergamot at one time to have the risk of cancer. Therefore, the acrylamide content produced by fried fingered citron will hardly harm health.

rootless bean sprout

It is said that rootless bean sprouts "add a lot of rootless agents, which are toxic and even carcinogenic when eaten frequently."

In fact, the so-called "rootless agent" is a kind of plant growth regulator, also known as 2,4-D, which may cause poisoning if taken in excess by the human body at high concentration. However, low concentration of 2,4-D can promote the growth of bean sprouts and inhibit the formation of roots and buds. Excessive use may inhibit the growth, so there is no "abuse" in the actual bean sprouts cultivation, and it is far from the toxic dose.

Immature tomatoes

Immature tomatoes transmitted through the Internet can lead to intestinal cancer. Immature tomatoes can produce an "alkaloid" substance, which can induce food poisoning when the human body ingests 0.2g—0.4g, leading to diarrhea, nausea and even organ failure. But it is worth noting that this substance is rarely detected in mature tomatoes, so as long as you eat mature tomatoes, there will be no problem.

Hongfengye

Eating red cabbage causes cancer? Cabbage contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which do have certain hepatotoxicity, but they do not belong to the category 1 carcinogens. At present, it is not clear about the content of pyrrolizidine alkaloids and its toxic dose. Compared with the toxins produced by frying and barbecue, the toxic effect of pyrrolizidine alkaloids accumulated in daily eating of Hongfeng is negligible.

baby cabbage

There are news reports that some unscrupulous merchants use formaldehyde to soak baby dishes and transport them to the market for sale. Once the news came out, it immediately caused public panic and worry. Doll food used to be a popular dish, but now it is avoided by people. Formaldehyde is listed as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization. According to China’s Food Safety Law, formaldehyde is an illegal additive and is strictly prohibited from being used in food processing. Therefore, as consumers, they only need to choose a supermarket with regular channels to buy doll dishes, and ensure that the dishes they buy have no pungent smell and can be safely eaten.

02

The real "carcinogenic culprits" are these foods.

Compared with the cancer risk of staring at vegetables, these common foods need more attention.

Processed meat

Most processed meats contain sodium nitrite as an additive, mainly to make the meat look better. However, after this additive reacts with meat protein, it will generate toxic and carcinogenic nitroso compounds. At present, the International Agency for Research on Cancer has included processed meat in the list of "first-class carcinogens".

Chinese salted fish

Like processed meat products, salted fish also contains a lot of nitrite. It is a derivative of high salt, exposure and dehydration in the process of salted fish curing. After being ingested by human body, it will produce strong carcinogen ammonium nitrite under the action of gastric acid.

alcohol

According to the data in 2020, 740,000 new cancers are related to drinking. Even moderate drinking will lead to more than 100,000 new cancer cases a year. As a class 1 carcinogen, alcohol is self-evident, which not only damages DNA, but also increases the risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, uterine cancer and other cancers.

Moreover, there is no safe intake of alcohol, and there is no such thing as "drinking lightly". A study published in The Lancet in 2018 showed that any amount of alcohol is harmful to human health.

areca

Betel nut is also recognized as a kind of carcinogen in the world. Chewing betel nut often will not only make people ugly, but also damage oral mucosa and teeth, and increase the risk of diseases such as periodontal disease, oral leukoplakia and oral cancer.

Mildew food

Mildew food contains a kind of carcinogen aflatoxin, which is extremely toxic, 68 times as much as arsenic, and even a small amount will cause harm. It can not only cause liver cancer, but also induce bone cancer, rectal cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer and so on. The daily aflatoxin disaster areas include moldy leftovers, rice, corn, peanuts, and locally pressed edible oil.

barbecue

When high-fat and high-protein foods, such as meat, are directly roasted with open flames at high temperature, carcinogens such as benzopyrene, heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are likely to be produced, which will increase the risks of gastric cancer, lung cancer and rectal cancer by covering the food surface or inhaling oil fumes.

Tips

In this way, the nutrition of vegetables is more complete.

● Minerals and vitamins contained in vegetables are easily soluble in water, so they can be washed first and then cut.

● Wash vegetables should be avoided for a long time, and chopped vegetables should not be soaked in water for a long time.

● Stir-fry as quickly as possible or steam. Experiments have proved that when vegetables are boiled for 3 minutes, the loss of vitamin C is 5%, and after 10 minutes, the loss will rise to 30%. The way of quick frying and steaming can reduce the loss of these nutrients.

● Adding a small amount of starch during cooking can effectively protect vitamin C..

● Add some vinegar when cooking, and the acidic environment can reduce the loss of vitamins.

Original title: "[Morning Reading] Are these vegetables pulled into the" cancer blacklist "? 》

Read the original text