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In August 2014, a family of five in Ya'an was rushed to the hospital after eating wild bracken. Due to the severity of the toxicity, it was also transferred to several hospitals during this period.
When this news came out, the news that bracken caused cancer was noisy, and many people did not dare to eat bracken easily, so that the "king of mountain vegetables" bracken, which was common on the table, disappeared.
Many farmers can't figure out why bracken has been a life-saving vegetable for the poor in the past, and it is okay for people to eat it for more than a thousand years, so why is it now considered a highly toxic carcinogen?
01, known as the "king of wild vegetables"
"There are ferns in the mountains, and there are berries in the mountains. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, people had regarded bracken as a delicacy, and women even carried baskets up the mountain to dig bracken.
In fact, bracken has a very long history of growth, as early as 100 million years ago, dinosaurs fed on it, because of its unique taste, and it is very common in the rural areas of the mainland, many people will dig it back to eat. Bracken grows better in neutral or slightly acidic soils, and some farmers transplant it at home to grow it, so that there is no end to it.
Bracken has different names in different regions, such as "Fu Cai", "Pheasant Paw Cai", "Wu Da Po", etc., which exist in most parts of the north and south of the mainland, especially in the mountains and forests at an altitude of 200-800 meters, and even in the northeast region, after all, it can overwinter in the environment of -35 °C.
Bracken is purple-brown in appearance, with black fluff on the surface, and its shape looks like a fist clenched, so it is also called "fist vegetable", but once the bracken is in a fist state, it must be picked in time, otherwise the taste of the fist part will be greatly reduced.
It is also because of the relatively short picking time that bracken is precious, and it has been loved in the past, and many restaurants have also regarded it as a signature dish, so it is known as the king of mountain vegetables.
Every spring, bracken will usher in the revival of germination, the whole mountain forest is full of bracken, especially the temperature is above 15 °C, the sprouts break out of the ground, at this time is a good day to dig bracken, it can be cooked and eaten after a simple cleaning, in that special era, bracken fed countless people, many people rely on it to survive.
02. Folk food for more than 1,000 years
Bracken has a long history of eating, and not only many poor people use it as a wild vegetable to satisfy their hunger, but also those who are rich and will buy and taste it even if the price is high.
In fact, the reason why bracken has been eaten by the people for more than 1,000 years is because it contains rich nutritional value.
It is understood that bracken is very rich in vitamin C, vitamin E, folic acid, etc., with significant antioxidant effect, and also has calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium, phosphorus and other mineral components.
The protein content in bracken is also a lot, there is 1.6g of protein per 100g, in addition to carotene, fat and other components, its health care value is relatively high, but also good antibacterial, effective prevention of eczema and skin infections and other pathologies.
Of course, there are also more dietary fiber components in bracken, which can speed up gastrointestinal peristalsis, and can also speed up detoxification and dampness, which is a good thing for people who are prone to constipation.
It is these nutritional values that make bracken have high health care value, rich nutrients, and can bring a lot of convenience to the body.
Of course, the value of traditional Chinese medicine of bracken is also relatively high, in the past, farmers had any fever and discomfort, they would chop the bracken roots, and then decoction with water, so that they could be very good to heat and drive away cold, as for why, but also because the stinky fern sterol content of the roots is relatively high. Today, fern root powder has been sold for twenty or thirty yuan a catty, and even then it is still in short supply.
Because of the rich nutritional and medicinal value of bracken, coupled with the very short picking cycle, the price has risen, and bracken sprouts were once sold for hundreds of yuan a catty.
03. Is bracken, which has been eaten for thousands of years, highly toxic and carcinogenic?
However, the good times did not last long, since the beginning of this century, the popularity of bracken has been declining, and since 10 years ago, the idea that bracken is a highly toxic carcinogen has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
So, is bracken really poisonous? Why can it be eaten for thousands of years? Didn't the ancients know about the toxicity of bracken?
In fact, as early as the Tang Dynasty, Sun Simiao, the king of medicine, commented that "eating for a long time becomes a fist", which means that if you eat bracken for a long time, it may bring many side effects to the body.
During the Ming Dynasty, Li Shizhen commented: "Long-term food makes the eyes dark, the nose is congested, and the hair falls!" means that if you eat it regularly, it may make your eyes astringent, your nose clogged, and your hair easy to fall out.
It can be seen that as early as ancient times, medical scientists have discovered the side effects of bracken, if you eat it for a long time, the body will have many adverse reactions, but the ancients did not realize that it contains carcinogens.
However, during World War II, some herders discovered that cattle had developed chronic hematuria after eating bracken in pastures where bracken was common, which made scientists interested in it.
In the 80s, Japanese scientists found the ingredient "protofernin" in bracken, and it was found that this substance will increase the carcinogenesis rate of gastric cancer and esophageal cancer. According to the data, in a place in the mountains of central Japan, the incidence of esophageal cancer increased by 3.7 times in women and 2.1 times higher in men among people who regularly eat bracken.
However, there are many doubts about the results of this study, first of all, Japanese people love salted fish, and salted fish itself can also cause an increase in carcinogenicity, and it is impossible to distinguish whether it is bracken or salted fish that exacerbates esophageal cancer.
Secondly, the favorite place to eat bracken in China is the northeast, but the place with the highest incidence of esophageal cancer in the mainland is Linxian County, and the pathogenesis has nothing to do with wild vegetables.
In 1994, researchers in Guizhou published a study on "bracken causes cancer", and fed animals bracken for a year, and found that 10% of animals had pancreatic cancer.
It seems that this conclusion does prove that bracken can cause cancer, but the lifespan of mice is only 1-2 years, and feeding for one year corresponds to humans having to eat bracken for 20-30 years and not eating other foods, which will increase the cancer rate.
Although the experimental conclusion proves that bracken causes cancer, there is no further investigation and research, so the theory that bracken causes cancer is not authoritative.
However, on October 27, 2017, the WHO officially declared that proterteosides are Class 3 carcinogens, and the intake of bracken can indeed affect the incidence of gastric cancer and esophageal cancer.
04, why are the people okay after eating for thousands of years?
Although bracken has been proven to be carcinogenic, many people still don't understand, why are humans okay after eating it for thousands of years?
In fact, although protofernin is a class 3 carcinogen, the current evidence of human carcinogenicity is not too sufficient, and although protofertinoside is a carcinogen, it must reach a certain amount if it wants to cause cancer, and everyone will not have an impact on human health as long as it is consumed in moderation.
In fact, the picking cycle of bracken is short, and it is not easy to eat it afterwards, and it is difficult for everyone to eat it in large quantities for a long time. What's more, Chinese will blanch and cook when cooking, these methods can well destroy the structure and reduce toxicity.
In addition, the metabolic ability of normal people is relatively strong, and the intake of a small amount of harmful substances can be effectively discharged by their own metabolic system, which is the main reason why people have eaten nothing for thousands of years.
In fact, many things in daily life are carcinogenic, but people still insist on eating them. For example, nicotine in tobacco is a first-class carcinogen, but many people cannot do without tobacco for a lifetime, and most people will not cause cancer because of it.
For example, the alcohol, betel nut and various pickled products in edible wine have a lot of carcinogens, but many people still eat them and do not avoid them because of the carcinogens they contain.
Even the most familiar tomatoes contain solanine, which can make people dizzy, nauseous and even breathless. But if you want to meet the conditions of poisoning, you need to eat 4 tons a meal, even elephants can't eat so much, so everyone can eat with confidence.
It can be seen that as long as you eat bracken correctly, you don't have to worry about its carcinogenicity, how to eat it?
1. Everyone must choose pollution-free, healthy and green bracken, which can avoid pollution caused by bracken in the growth process. Secondly, the protofern glycosides are mainly found in the tender tips of bracken, so we must remove the tender tips, and we can also remove the roots or other aging and yellowing places.
2. Cleaning is also very important, you must know that protofern glycosides are easily soluble in water, so you should soak them in water for a period of time before eating. After that, blanching with boiling water can filter out the effective carcinogens, greatly reducing the risk.
3. After blanching, it should also be rinsed in cold water in time until there are no astringent and slippery ingredients on the surface of the bracken, and then soak it in water for 2 days, so that the toxic components can be removed to the maximum extent and eaten with confidence.
In fact, in addition to the mainland, Japan and South Korea and other countries love to eat bracken, and you can always see free bracken pickles in Korean restaurants.
In Europe, bracken and asparagus are thought to taste very similar, and bracken is added to pizza and pies.
It can be seen that bracken has conquered the world with its unique taste, and there is no need to worry about whether bracken has carcinogenic ingredients, as long as you don't eat it often and handle it properly, you can eat it boldly with confidence.