Many places in the north and south have the Xi of making salted fish, some smoked, some pickled, especially in the upcoming New Year, homemade salted fish is not only a delicacy on the table, but also a gift to experience the heart.
However, in recent years, the World Health Organization has included Chinese-style salted fish in the list of first-class carcinogens, that is, it is clearly considered to be carcinogenic risk, which also casts a shadow on delicacies such as salted fish.
Why is Chinese-style salted fish tragically "targeted"? Is it really extremely carcinogenic? Let's find out today.
1. Is Chinese-style salted fish clearly carcinogenic?
On October 28, 2015, the "Daily Mail" published an article saying that the World Health Organization has added 116 new factors that can clearly cause cancer, including familiar cigarettes, alcohol, hepatitis B virus, etc., as well as some common things in life, Chinese salted fish is one of them.
I believe that many people can't help but think that this is a "malicious attack" when they see this news at first glance, and feel that foreigners don't know anything about Chinese-style salted fish. But in fact, as early as 1980, the mainland's "Foreign Medical and Health Register" pointed out that Chinese-style salted fish may be related to nasopharyngeal cancer in the south.
In this paper, 8 pairs of animals were fed with salted fish and fresh water, and their urine components were collected for further testing, and targeted mutagenicity tests were carried out on salted fish, and the results showed that:
• The activity of N-nitroso compounds is abnormally elevated, so salted fish probably contain more than one mutagen.
The production of N-nitroso compounds is related to the special production method of salted fish, which uses a high concentration of salt to help dehydrate the meat, which is not only convenient for preservation, but also can form a unique flavor.
However, in the process of combining salt, meat and air, a large amount of nitrite is easy to form, and after nitrite enters the stomach, it will be transmitted into nitrosamines under the action of gastric acid, including nitroso dimethylamine and other nitroso compounds.
At the same time, N-nitroso compounds are substances with a clear carcinogenic risk, and if exposed to them for a long time, they will attack the genes of normal cells, disrupt DNA function, accelerate the probability of cell damage, aging and even mutations, and may increase the incidence of nasopharyngeal cancer, esophageal cancer, gastric cancer and other cancers.
Since it is clear that it is carcinogenic, can't salted fish be eaten?
It is not necessary to quit completely, because it takes a long process for cancer cells to develop, during which our immune function will continue to destroy cells that are at risk of mutation or have entered the aging stage to ensure the health of the body.
Therefore, eating less in moderation will not accelerate the onset of cancer, such as eating once a week, eating two or three pieces at a time, which is usually allowed.
2. Studies have found that eating too much fish may increase the incidence of such pathogenic diseases!
Fish is an indispensable dish on the table of Chinese, especially now that it is almost the New Year, frying and cooking are delicious, and the soup is even more nutritious and delicious, but some studies say that eating too much fish may suffer from some fatal diseases, what is going on?
In 2022, Cancer Causes & Contro published an article in which 491,000 people were followed up for a long time.
• People who ate 43 grams of fish per day had a 22% higher risk of melanoma than those who ate 3 grams of fish per day.
After specific classification, it was found that excessive intake of tuna and non-fried fish may increase the risk of melanoma.
The conclusion was a big surprise, and the researchers said that the result was statistically significant, even not accidental, meaning that for the vast majority of people, the conclusion was true.
But what exactly causes this outcome?
Researchers believe it is related to contaminants in fish, such as heavy metals such as lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium and other heavy metals. After these heavy metals enter the human body, they can be excreted through natural metabolism in small amounts, but if the content is exceeded, they will accumulate in the body, affecting the normal function of the body, and also increasing the risk of some cancers.
So where did these heavy metals come from?
First, these heavy metal contaminants can be widely distributed in the natural environment.
We all know that most rocks have trace elements, including heavy metals, and the water source on land mostly flows down from the mountains, during which it is constantly in contact with the rocks, which must contain beneficial and harmful metal components, and it is normal for fish to contain such substances in their bodies.
Secondly, the amount of waste emitted by humans is gradually increasing.
The pollutants produced during industrial production contain a large number of harmful substances, which may be discharged into the air, or may be discharged into rivers and oceans, and after natural circulation, the pollutants in the air will flow into the water source after rain, and the fish may also be polluted.
At the same time, the fertilizers and pesticides used in agricultural production also contain heavy metals, and the land is closely connected with the water source, which will also pollute the fish through the biological chain cycle, so in order to avoid eating fish and hurting the body, the right amount is the best choice, it is recommended to eat fish 1-2 times a week, and eating three or five pieces each time can generally meet the needs of the body.
3. Estrogen, wood chips, and solar radiation are also "harmful substances"? Is this true?
At the beginning of the article, we mentioned that the World Health Organization released 116 clear carcinogenic factors, including not only Chinese-style salted fish, but also estrogen, sawdust, solar radiation, etc., seemingly harmless and even beneficial to health factors, how do they harm our health?
1. Estrogen
Estrogen is a part of the body's sex hormones, of which women secrete more and are also important members of the female reproductive system that promote the normal functioning of the female reproductive system. But if there is too much estrogen, it can also accelerate the appearance of cancers of the reproductive system.
Taking breast cancer as an example, when estrogen is secreted excessively, the total secretion of sex hormones increases, which stimulates the function of the breast gland, resulting in a long-term enlargement of the mammary gland. At this time, the risk of impaired breast cell function and mutation increases, increasing the incidence of breast cancer, and ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer also have similar mechanisms.
In addition, excessive estrogen secretion can also cause other gynecological diseases, such as abnormal thickening of the endometrium, uterine fibroids, breast hyperplasia, etc., which may seriously lead to infertility.
2, wood chips
Wood chips are a common pollutant in wood production, and the finer the wood processing, the smaller the wood chips will be, and even the naked eye will be unable to detect and inhale into the body.
When the dust is too small, the nasal hair and mucous membrane in the nasal cavity can not be filtered, and the sawdust enters the lungs along the respiratory tract, due to the poor metabolic ability of the lungs, the foreign solids can not be discharged from the body in a short time, and can only stay in the body to continuously stimulate the lung cells, seriously affecting their normal function.
Even larger sawdust can attach to the mucous membranes, interfering with mucosal function and causing recurrent inflammation. Inflammation not only reduces the lungs' defenses, but also directly increases the risk of lung cancer. In addition to wood chips, cotton wool, soot, etc. also have similar carcinogenic mechanisms.
3. Solar radiation
Solar radiation is actually what we usually call sunlight, it can promote the absorption of calcium, can also accelerate the body's circulation and metabolism, should be a natural substance that is conducive to health, why can it cause cancer?
Because too strong and too long of solar radiation will continue to damage the superficial skin cells, resulting in sunburn, if this sunburn occurs repeatedly, it is likely to destroy the defense of the superficial skin, but increase the prevalence of skin cancer.
Therefore, occupations that need to go out to work for a long time, such as delivery workers, maintenance personnel, traffic police comrades, etc., need to pay special attention to sun protection to avoid sunburn and heat stroke.
Having said all this, you may have also discovered that most of the items we come into contact with in our lives are not good or bad, just look at the amount used. If it exceeds the body's capacity, it may increase the risk of disease, but if it is controlled within a certain range, it is not only harmless to health, but may also be beneficial to the health of the body.
Citations:
[1] Yu Ciqing.Salted fish and nasopharyngeal cancer of southern China[J].Foreign Medicine(Health Credit), 1980(2).
[2] Yun Wuxin. "Chinese-style salted fish magnify the chances of nasopharyngeal cancer." Health Management 4 (2010): 3