Obviously attaches great importance to health preservation, but she was diagnosed with cancer! This eating habit hurt her

There are many people in life who attach great importance to health and health, eat more healthy vegetarian food and less greasy food. However, it was such a person who was diagnosed with cancer, and even her family was very shocked, "How can you get cancer when you pay so much attention to health preservation?"

Obviously attaches great importance to health,

But you were diagnosed with cancer?

In March 2024, Yuyao Maternal and Child Health Hospital in Zhejiang Province received such a patient. Ms. Zhou (pseudonym), 74 years old this year, has lived in the mountains for most of her life, and usually pays attention to her diet, controls meat and vegetables, eats less greasy food, and basically grows her own vegetables. But she never thought that she would suffer from bowel cancer because of a dietary habit!

In the past six months, Ms. Zhou often feels that she can't lift her spirits and loses some weight, but she doesn't care too much. Until recently, she began to have more frequent bowel movements, frequent urge to defecate, and frequent blood in her stool. She thought she had hemorrhoids, but her symptoms worsened after self-medication. So, her family rushed her to the hospital for a check-up.

Subsequently, Zhao Jianpei, chief physician of the anorectal surgery department of Ningbo Huamei Hospital of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Ningbo Second Hospital), performed a colonoscopy on Ms. Zhou and found a bleeding hard mass, which was indicated by biopsy: rectal adenocarcinoma.

Ms. Zhou's family was shocked by this result. Because the elderly usually pay attention to a healthy diet, eat less greasy food and eat more vegetables, how can they still get rectal cancer if they pay so much attention to health?

Doctor: This eating habit has hurt her

Later, after questioning, the doctor learned that Ms. Zhou and her wife lived in the mountains and only ate a few foods they grew all year round. Although I eat a lot of vegetables, I have a single variety of long-term diets, and I am used to being thrifty, and the vegetables that cannot be eaten in the vegetable field at home are also pickled for a long time, and sometimes I ask my son, who works in other places, to buy some fish and meat to come back and marinate. Moreover, this kind of food is not easy to spoil, and it is often eaten for several days in a row, and overnight meals are often eaten.

"The obvious increase in the incidence of bowel cancer is not only closely related to the intake of a high-fat, high-protein and low-fiber diet, staying up late, smoking and drinking, etc., but also long-term consumption of pickled smoked foods and overnight dishes containing nitrosamines and other carcinogenic factors may also lead to the occurrence of bowel cancer. Dr. Zhao Jianpei explained.

The study found that:

Eating pickled foods often increases the risk of cancer

In April 2023, a team from Zhejiang University School of Medicine published a study on the hazards of pickled vegetables in the journal BMC Medicine. The study collected nearly 10 years of health data from more than 440,000 people aged 30-79 in 10 different regions of the mainland who did not have chronic diseases, and found that people who regularly ate pickled vegetables significantly increased the mortality rate of digestive tract cancer and hemorrhagic stroke.

The study found that the harm of eating pickled vegetables is mainly concentrated in three aspects:

1. There is a high risk of cancer after eating

People who ate pickles four or more days a week had a 13% higher risk of death from digestive tract cancers (stomach, esophageal, appendix adenocarcinoma, colorectal cancer, etc.) and a 45% higher risk of death from esophageal cancer.

2. Blood pressure rises after eating

People who ate sauerkraut ≥ 4 days a week had an average increase in systolic (hyperbaric) and diastolic (hypotensive) blood pressure by 1.5 mm Hg and 0.8 mm Hg, respectively, compared to people who never or rarely consumed pickled vegetables.

3. The risk of intracerebral hemorrhage is high

People who consume pickles 1~3 days a week have a 32% higher risk of death from hemorrhagic stroke (cerebral hemorrhage).

Why does regular consumption of pickled vegetables increase the risk of cerebral hemorrhage and digestive tract cancer? Most studies have suggested that it is related to the high salt concentration and nitrite of pickled vegetables. Most of the pickled vegetables are salty, high salt and high sodium will lead to increased blood pressure, brittle blood vessels, etc., and frequent consumption of high-salt foods will damage the gastric mucosa and esophageal mucosa, induce cancer, and nitrite can react with amines, the decomposition products of proteins in the stomach, to form N-nitroso compounds such as nitrosamines with strong teratogenicity and carcinogenicity.

According to the "List of Carcinogens of the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization" published on the website of the former State Food and Drug Administration in 2017, pickled vegetables belong to category 2B carcinogens. Not just pickled vegetables, but cured meats can also increase the risk of cancer. As early as 2012, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) included "salted fish" in the list of Group 1 carcinogens.

Pickled food should be eaten as little as possible,

These 5 things must be known!

Although pickled food is delicious and has a unique flavor and texture, it is also recommended to eat less in daily life, and it is not a big problem to eat once or twice once in a while, but don't eat it often or every day as a delicacy.

1. Be sure to cut down on salt when eating pickled foods

One of the biggest problems with pickled food is that it's too salty. The Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents recommend that each person consume no more than 5 grams of salt per day, but many residents in mainland China have a daily salt intake that far exceeds this standard. If you love pickled vegetables again, your salt intake will be even more exceeded.

Therefore, it is recommended that if you eat pickled food, you must put less salt in other dishes and foods, or take out the pickled food in advance and soak it in clean water and wash it several times, so that you can also achieve the purpose of reducing and removing salt.

2. Be sure to marinate pickled food thoroughly

Nitrite is produced in the process of marinating food, and if it is not "marinated", the nitrite content is high at this time, which can lead to nitrite poisoning.

Don't eat pickles for the first 1-2 weeks. The nitrite content in pickles fluctuates regularly: the nitrite content is the highest in the first 1-2 weeks, and the content will be very low after 20~30 days, so eat it in moderation. The first ten days of pickles are the most dangerous, with nitrite levels varying dozens of times, and if you eat them during this peak period, there is a risk of poisoning. So keep in mind that pickles must be pickled thoroughly, and it is best to eat them after 20 days.

3. Eat preserved foods with fresh vegetables

Vitamin C in fresh fruits and vegetables is a strong antioxidant that can inhibit the production of nitrite in preserved foods and have a certain scavenging effect on nitrite. Therefore, when eating pickled foods, with vegetables and fruits rich in vitamin C such as bell peppers, broccoli, bok choy, bitter gourd, oranges, winter dates, kiwifruit, strawberries, etc., can reduce the damage of nitrite to the body.

4. Don't eat too much of pickled food at once

Many people don't eat pickled food once in a long time, and once in a while they think it's very delicious and eat more. This can also increase the risk of nitrite poisoning if you consume large amounts of preserved food at one time. Therefore, it is recommended to eat pickled food once in a while in moderation, and not to eat too much at one time.

5. These groups of people eat less pickled food

People with high blood pressure, diabetes, stomach disease, and kidney damage should try to eat less pickled vegetables and pickled foods.

Source: Health Times

Editor-in-charge: Summer

Editor: Wang Jun