5 New "Killer" Carcinogens!
Potential Carcinogen Killer One: Unhealthy Lifestyle
The "China Health Statistics Abstract" released by the Ministry of Health shows that the top 5 causes of death for urban residents in China are, in order: malignant tumors, cerebrovascular diseases, heart diseases, respiratory diseases, and injuries and poisoning. This indicates that diseases caused by unhealthy lifestyles have become the primary threat to the lives of urban residents in China. Deaths from unhealthy lifestyles account for 37% of the total deaths. The medical community coined the term "lifestyle cancer" to remind people to pay attention to their lifestyles and abandon bad habits.
Experts point out that smoking, excessive drinking, frequent late nights and late-night snacks, inhaling vehicle exhaust on the streets, and even inhaling the fumes from stir-frying at home all have carcinogenic potential. In short, unhealthy aspects of human life—clothing, food, housing, and transportation—can all lead to cancer. This type of cancer is "lifestyle cancer."
Changing one's lifestyle can indeed change the probability of developing cancer, which is the greatest motivation for preventing "lifestyle cancer." Taking the incidence of female malignant tumors as an example, cervical cancer, which was ranked first among female malignant tumors in Shanghai in the early days of the People's Republic of China, has now dropped to eighth place. Medical schools are finding it difficult to find living cases of advanced cervical cancer for clinical teaching, and can only show students photographs and materials. Meanwhile, breast cancer, which was once rare, is now ranked first. This is the most vivid example of how lifestyle changes affect the ranking of female cancers. This is because the occurrence of cervical cancer is related to having many children and early marriage, while the occurrence of breast cancer is related to excess nutrition and insufficient breastfeeding.
Potential Carcinogen Killer Two: Environmental Pollution
Experts point out that the vast majority of cancers are not caused by internal or external factors alone, but by the interaction of multiple factors, both internal and external. External factors are mainly environmental factors. Studies in tumor epidemiology show that over 90% of malignant tumors are related to the environment. Environmental factors include almost all substances we come into contact with in our daily lives, such as food, water, air, drugs, chemicals, radiation, and microorganisms (such as bacteria and viruses). The environment can be divided into three major parts: biological, physicochemical, and social, with chemical substances being the main component. Therefore, some experts point out that a major reason for the current increase in cancer incidence is the large number of chemical substances.
With the acceleration of urbanization, dense populations, serious pollution, and changes in living conditions and lifestyles have led to high levels of mental stress and a faster pace of life,加重了精神上的负担 (加重了精神上的负担). At the same time, people live in an environment with numerous carcinogenic factors, which causes some people to develop cancer while most never do in their lifetime. This shows that the body's own internal factors play an important role in whether cancer occurs. In layman's terms, mutated cells are like "seeds," and the body's internal environment is like "soil." With cancerous seeds and soil suitable for the growth of cancer cells, combined with the external environment as fertilizer, such tumors can grow.
Potential Carcinogen Killer Three: Proliferation of Chemical Substances
Professor Hu Chaosu, an expert from a tumor hospital, pointed out that current research has found that some chemical elements in food can also cause cancer. For example, in pickled and moldy foods, dimethylnitrosamine, diethylnitrosamine, and methylbenzylnitrosamine can be found in pickled meats and fish, and crude fish sauce. In addition, they are also found to varying degrees in dried radishes, aged cornmeal, pickled vegetables, and some moldy foods. Besides nitrosamines, moldy foods also contain mycotoxins, which can themselves cause cancer and have a synergistic carcinogenic effect with nitrosamines. Experts have also found that grains and foods in high-incidence areas of stomach cancer are severely contaminated by mold, and even in the gastric juice of stomach cancer patients, mold and its toxins have been detected.
According to epidemiological studies at home and abroad, the incidence of stomach cancer may also be related to a fondness for smoked and grilled foods. Because during the smoking and grilling process, a large amount of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are produced, which include strong carcinogens such as benzopyrene, which can penetrate the entire food. During the grilling process, proteins, especially when burnt at high temperatures, break down to produce carcinogenic components.
Potential Carcinogen Killer Four: Excess Dietary Nutrition
In China, one in five deaths is due to malignant tumors. In large cities, it is one in four. Many of these patients are related to nutritional excess.
Epidemiological surveys show that high-fat diets affect the intestinal flora and the levels of certain bile acids and cholesterol, which can become promoters of colon cancer. There is a direct correlation between fat intake in the diet and the prevalence of colorectal cancer. The incidence of colorectal cancer is significantly higher in populations with high fat intake. Professor Jiangiakun, Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Nutrition Society, pointed out that the current diet is monotonous, with white flour and rice, and little consumption of coarse grains, which increases the body's heat intake and is also one of the causes of cancer. As early as the 1940s, some interesting experiments were conducted on animals. They found that restricting the intake of mouse feed, that is, reducing sugar intake (reducing the supply of calories), could significantly reduce the occurrence of their tumors. Similar findings have been made in some cancer patients. Overweight people are also more prone to certain cancers, such as gallbladder cancer and uterine body cancer, with a much higher chance than others.
Excessive alcohol consumption is also an important factor in inducing cancer. Excessive drinking is closely related to the incidence of oral cancer, pharyngeal cancer, laryngeal cancer, esophageal cancer, liver cancer, rectal cancer, and breast cancer. For oral and throat cancers, the incidence rate of excessive drinkers is more than twice that of non-excessive drinkers. The relationship between esophageal cancer and alcohol is even closer.
Potential Carcinogen Killer Five: Psychological Factors Can Also Be a Trigger
Scientists have discovered that numerous environmental factors are related to the onset of cancer. At the same time, research by scientists has also shown that psychological factors can also be a trigger for cancer.
Experiments have confirmed that when in a good mood, the brain's emotional center secretes a beneficial substance called "endorphins," which can relieve pain, resist aging, and activate the immune system's function, inhibiting the growth of cancer cells and harmful microorganisms. Conversely, when in a bad mood, it increases the secretion of adrenal cortex hormones. After these hormones enter the bloodstream, they can damage the body's immune function and trigger the canceration of normal cells. A U.S. scholar once investigated 8,000 cancer patients and found that the clinical manifestations of most malignant tumors occurred during periods of frequent disappointment, loneliness, other heavy blows, and mental stress. Survey data in China also shows that many cancer patients experienced significant mental stress in the six months before their illness, with a rate of over 50%.