The weather is cold, should we eat food while it is hot? Be careful to increase the risk of cancer!

Review expert: Peng Guoqiu, deputy chief physician of the Fourth Medical Center of the General Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army

Winter is here, and it is the best season to eat hot pot. "Eating something hot" or stewing to nourish health has also become the choice of many people. Big pot stews, dumplings, mutton soup... No matter what you eat, it feels like it has to be steaming hot before you can eat it.

Image source: Qianku.com

But at the same time, an organ in your body may be "trembling"!

0 1

Is it more comfortable to “eat it while it’s hot”?

Many people like to "eat while hot" and "drink while hot", and they will feel "not satisfied" if it is a little cold. This is mainly because eating hot food can stimulate pleasure. After the high-temperature food enters the mouth, it will first irritate the tongue and cause slight pain in the body. After the brain receives the pain signal, it will secrete a substance called endorphin for pain relief. The analgesic effect of endorphins is very strong, ten times stronger than morphine. Endorphins not only have the effect of relieving pain, but also bring pleasant pleasure to the body, so people will have the perception that it tastes better when eaten while hot.

02 “Hot and spicy” will make people “vomit blood”

On the Internet, some netizens shared their experiences of vomiting blood after "eating hot food". They basically ate noodles right after they came out of the pot, without waiting for them to cool down. After eating hot food, the throat and esophagus will experience severe burning pain, and eating other foods will aggravate the irritation to the esophagus, resulting in severe vomiting of blood.

Image source: Qianku.com

Although bleeding caused by hot food is uncommon, it is not uncommon in emergency rooms. Eating overly hot food can easily damage the oral, esophageal and gastric mucosa, which may lead to mucosal damage, inflammation, and even ulcer bleeding, causing chest and abdominal pain, heartburn and other symptoms.

Although the gastrointestinal mucosal epithelium has the ability to regenerate and repair, long-term and repeated stimulation may cause chronic damage to the mucosa and increase the risk of esophagitis, gastrointestinal ulcers and cancer.

0 3What temperature can the esophagus tolerate?

The surface of the oral cavity and esophagus is a delicate mucous membrane, and the hardness and temperature of food will cause damage to it. Recall that after a hearty hot pot meal, the numbness of the gums and palate may be the mouth reminding you that the food is too hot. The effect of temperature on the oral and esophageal mucosa is particularly obvious:

When the food temperature is between 10℃ and 40℃, it is most suitable;

When the food temperature is 50℃～60℃, it can barely be tolerated;

When the food temperature is above 65℃, it will cause burns.

In 2016, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified hot drinks above 65°C as "Class 2A carcinogens." This means that there is solid research evidence that hot drinks cause cancer in animals and are very likely to cause cancer in humans.

The esophagus itself has a strong self-repair ability. When burned, the tissue cells will fall off, proliferate, and repair in time. Therefore, if it is a minor burn, the esophagus will recover quickly on its own, and you may not even feel anything.

However, if you are careless and eat hot food for a long time, the mucosal cells will repeatedly undergo "damage-repair-redamage-repair" under repeated heat stimulation.

During this process, cell proliferation speeds up, the benign cycle of self-repair is broken, and dysplasia occurs, causing oral ulcers, esophageal ulcers and esophagitis. When these abnormal cells continue to accumulate, they may become malignant and eventually lead to esophageal cancer.

04If you have symptoms of esophageal burns, don’t do these things

1. Do not continue to eat these foods: After the esophageal mucosa is burned, it is necessary to protect the esophageal mucosa and minimize the stimulation to the esophageal mucosa during eating. Patients should try to eat warm and cool liquids in the early stage and avoid spicy, rough or overheated foods, such as onions, mustard, biscuits, nuts, etc. Otherwise, it will aggravate the damage to the esophageal mucosa and make it difficult for the esophageal mucosa to heal.

2. Do not take painkillers on your own: If you experience pain behind the sternum, difficulty swallowing, or vomiting blood after eating, stop eating immediately and seek medical attention in a timely manner. Do not take painkillers on your own or mistakenly think that it is a mild illness caused by general gastroesophageal reflux, thereby delaying treatment.

After an esophageal burn occurs, the first thing to do is to stop eating any overly hot food or drinks that may further irritate the esophagus. You can drink some cool boiled water, but avoid ice water or ice cubes, because overly cold food may also irritate the injured esophagus. If the burn causes obvious inflammation or pain, you can take some anti-inflammatory or antacid drugs under the doctor's advice to help reduce irritation and inflammatory response of the esophagus and promote healing.

In daily diet, it is best to wait until the food or drink cools down to a suitable temperature before consuming it. Especially when eating hot pot, drinking hot soup and other high-temperature foods, you should let them cool down slightly first to avoid damage to the digestive tract. In addition, focus on eating and avoid eating while working or watching TV. Concentrating not only prevents food from being overheated, but also promotes good digestion and absorption.

Starting today, let’s slowly change the habit of eating food while it’s hot with our family. If the food is too hot, it’s better to blow on it and let it cool down. It will be delicious and healthy.