Source: Zhuke HOME
If you are not feeling well, the doctor asked you to eat more vegetables to maintain health and lose weight, and friends recommend eating more vegetables, and vegetables have become synonymous with health preservation.
However, in life, you may hear your mother or neighbors say that you can't eat such and such a dish, and that if you eat too much, you will get cancer, and many people may wonder, is eating vegetables really cause cancer?
Seeing the tweets that "vegetables may cause cancer" in the family group, many people began to wonder, could it be that green and healthy vegetables also hide "landmines"? In the face of these controversies, we need to examine them from a scientific perspective.
.01
Warabi
Bracken, known as the "king of wild vegetables", the representative of spring wild fun, with its crisp and tender taste, has become a frequent guest on the spring table of many diners, especially favored by cold salad lovers, but there is a little-known fact behind it: bracken is one of the few vegetables known to possibly pose a carcinogenic risk.
In 2011, the World Health Organization included it in the list of class 2B probable carcinogens, and in the 80s of the 20th century, Japanese scientists discovered a compound called "protofernin" in bracken, which has the ability to damage DNA and can induce normal cells to mutate into cancer cells. In a survey in central Japan, scientists found that people who consumed bracken frequently had a 2.1-fold increase in esophageal cancer in men and 3.7 times in women, while epidemiological surveys in the United Kingdom, Brazil and China also showed that eating bracken may increase the risk of stomach cancer.
Still, this doesn't mean that we need to avoid bracken at all, eat it in moderation, especially if you don't consume it in large quantities on a daily basis, the risk is relatively low for most people, and the amount of water-soluble carcinogens in bracken can be effectively reduced by soaking, washing multiple times, and cooking for 15 minutes or steaming for 10 to 12 minutes in high-temperature cooking.
.02
Red phoenix cabbage
Red phoenix cabbage, a wild treasure in nature, is named because of its bright red color after cooking, and some people even mistakenly think that it has the magical effect of blood replenishment, so it has the nickname of "blood tonic vegetable", but this color actually comes from the anthocyanin components in it, and has no actual blood tonic function.
Although the color of the red phoenix is eye-catching, excessive consumption can bring adverse consequences, red phoenix contains pyrrolizidine, a hepatotoxic alkaloid, mainly metabolized in the liver, with the increase of intake, the damage to the liver is also intensified, affecting the liver's detoxification function, and at worst it may lead to liver failure or liver cancer risk.
In order to reduce the risk, high-temperature treatment can remove some of the alkaloids when cooking red phoenix, but this does not mean that it is safe to eat large quantities, especially for those who already have liver disease or are prone to diarrhea.
.03
Cucumber tops bloom
Circulating theories about cucumbers blooming with thorns on the tops have often linked it to hormone use, raising public concerns about precocious puberty and the risk of cancer, which can actually be part of the cucumber's natural growth or the use of a plant hormone called clopiurea during the cucumber flowering process.
However, both of these conditions are considered safe, cucumbers are more likely to bloom at the top of cucumbers if they are picked at the early stage of ripening, and chlorpyrurea, as a plant hormone, mainly affects plant growth and is basically harmless to humans. In fact, the use of this hormone is usually very small, and if used in excess, cucumbers may become bitter, hollow, morphologically deformed, and even rotten, rather than carcinogenic.
Therefore, you can rest assured that you can enjoy the fresh taste of cucumbers when you eat them, and you don't need to worry too much about their potential health risks.
.04
Folded ear root
Known for its unique aroma but often mistaken for carcinogens, it is popular to say that aristolochic acid in Houttuynia cordata can cause kidney damage and cancer, but in fact, Houttuynia cordata does not contain aristolochic acid, but instead contains another compound: aristolochlactam.
Indeed, aristolochic acid is a well-known first-class carcinogen, with strong carcinogenic potential, and even a small amount of ingestion may cause damage to DNA, causing kidney cancer and other diseases, the aristolochic lactam in Houttuynia cordata is different, the five aristolochic lactams it contains have not shown toxicity, the current research is mainly limited to in vitro cell experiments, and it has been found that Houttuynia cordata extract has a certain hepatocytotoxicity.
Houttuynia cordata has relatively limited evidence of toxicity, so there is no need to worry about it, as Houttuynia cordata is a frequent guest on the table of residents in the three southwestern provinces, and its flavor is unique, and moderate consumption can be enjoyed as a delicacy.
.05 These 4 poisonous vegetables, don't eat them indiscriminately
Don't eat fresh fungus:
Fresh fungus contains light-sensitive substances, which may cause throat edema, dyspnea, and even solar dermatitis, so when buying fungus, you should choose dried fungus that has been dried, and the soaking time should not exceed 2 hours.
Don't eat sprouted potatoes:
Potatoes are commonplace, but sprouted or greened potatoes contain a large amount of solanine, a toxin that can stimulate the gastrointestinal mucosa, paralyze the brain center, and dissolve blood cells.
Don't eat undercooked beans: Uncooked beans may contain toxins such as saponin and phytohamagglutinin, so make sure to cook the beans fully cooked to avoid toxins entering the body.
Don't eat fresh daylily:
Don't look at daylily is a good medicinal diet after drying, if you eat fresh daylily, it is possible to be poisoned, in the past 30 years, the mainland has reported nearly 900 people due to the consumption of fresh daylily caused by poisoning, so do not easily try the toxin that does not know the truth, fresh daylily or eat less is better.
To prevent "poisonous vegetables" from entering the mouth, some small skills are also needed to deal with vegetables, such as blanching, which can remove pesticide residues, purines, nitrites, etc., don't be greedy for buying vegetables, vegetables can not be put for too long, it is best to eat within 3 days, when processing vegetables, it is best to throw away the skin of vegetables and fruits, vegetable roots, etc., to prevent drug residues.