Where might carcinogens be hidden in our lives?

Dangerous carcinogens are hidden everywhere in our daily lives. Where are they usually hidden? Let's look for them in these places in your home!

1. Aflatoxin - the strongest biological carcinogen

1 mg of aflatoxin is a carcinogenic dose! It is the strongest biological carcinogen we know of. Be careful! Aflatoxin is hidden in these foods!

1. Moldy peanuts and corn

Aflatoxin is hidden in moldy foods, especially those with high starch content, such as peanuts, corn, etc. The rice, millet, and beans we often eat, especially in a hot and humid environment, will fall into its clutches once they become moldy.

2. Nuts that become bitter due to improper storage

If you eat melon seeds that have turned bitter, be sure to spit them out and rinse your mouth immediately, because the bitterness of melon seeds and other nuts comes from aflatoxin produced during the moldy process, and frequent intake will increase the risk of liver cancer.

3. Spoiled rice

Don’t think you can relax your vigilance just because the rice is cooked. Spoiled rice is most likely to produce aflatoxin.

4. Chopsticks for long-term use

Chopsticks themselves will not grow aflatoxin, but the chopsticks we usually use to eat foods with high starch content such as peanuts and corn are most likely to contain starch. Once they become moldy, aflatoxin will be hidden inside.

5. Peanut oil

Small workshops may at most roughly filter out impurities before pressing oil, but aflatoxin cannot be observed with the naked eye and may be present in seeds that are not obviously moldy. Simple oil pressing processes cannot handle or remove it.

6. Low-quality sesame paste

In order to reduce costs, some businesses use braned sesame seeds, shrunken peanuts, and even spoiled sesame seeds and peanuts as raw materials for sesame paste and peanut butter. The spoiled peanuts contain aflatoxin.

2. Benzopyrene - can induce a variety of cancers

Animal experiments have shown that long-term inhalation or consumption of foods containing high levels of benzopyrene can easily induce lung cancer, liver cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, etc.

Common sources of benzopyrene:

1. High temperature fried foods

Repeated use of high-temperature vegetable oils, over-frying, and stir-frying of foods will all produce benzopyrene. The content of benzopyrene in burnt foods is 10-20 times higher than that in ordinary foods.

2. Cooking fumes

It has been determined that the fumes produced when cooking oil is heated to 270 degrees Celsius contain compounds such as benzopyrene.

The wrong way is: put the food in the pan when the oil is smoking! After frying a dish, continue frying without cleaning the pan! Both of these methods are likely to produce benzopyrene.

3. Smoked food

The charcoal used for smoking and grilling contains a small amount of benzopyrene, which may enter the food along with the smoke at high temperatures. On the other hand, the incomplete combustion of sugar and fat contained in the smoked fish or meat itself can also produce benzopyrene.

4. Ink

The carbon black in ink contains several carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, especially benzopyrene. When the ink on some food packaging paper is not dry, it will directly contaminate the food. Many people like to wrap strawberries, cabbages, etc. in newspapers to keep them fresh, which makes it easier to come into contact with benzopyrene.

3. Nitrosamines - toxic and indirectly carcinogenic

Nitrates and nitrites are only one letter apart, but the former are non-toxic, while the latter are toxic in large quantities. It is fine to take a few hundred milligrams of nitrates at a time, but there is a risk of poisoning if you take 200 milligrams of nitrites at a time.

When nitrite enters the body, it combines with protein degradation products in the stomach to form carcinogenic nitrosamines.

Common sources of ammonium nitrite:

1. Overnight dishes

When vegetables are eaten, they are repeatedly tossed by several pairs of chopsticks, which has already allowed bacteria to grow. Even if the leftovers are placed in the refrigerator after eating, bacteria will slowly grow. The longer they are stored, the more nitrites are produced.

2. Processed meat products

Nitrite is a food additive permitted by various countries, mainly used in meat products. It can make meat more red and pleasing to the eye. Products from small workshops, restaurants, and farmers' markets must be treated with extreme caution.

3. Pickled food

It is necessary to know a general rule: the nitrite content of pickled vegetables is highest in the first one or two weeks, and the content is very low after 20-30 days.

According to Zhong Kai, an associate researcher at the National Food Safety Risk Research Center, patients who suffer from pickled vegetable poisoning in clinical practice generally eat "exploded pickled vegetables," which are vegetables that have been pickled for a very short time.

4. Long-term storage of green leafy vegetables

Due to excessive application of nitrogen fertilizers, the nitrate content in vegetables is often high. Nitrate can be converted into nitrite by the plant's own "nitrate reductase" during the storage of vegetables.

The nitrite content in fresh vegetables is very low. If you buy green leafy vegetables and do not eat them immediately, but leave them for two or three days, the nitrite content in them is likely to increase.

5. Cold dishes

Many families like to eat some cold dishes, and sometimes they put them in the refrigerator. Although the cold dishes still look fresh and crisp after a few days, the nitrite content in them is higher than that of leftovers after one or two days.

6. Hot pot soup

Experiments have determined that the content of amino acids and amines in hot pot soup is relatively high, which is very likely to synthesize nitrosamine carcinogens with nitrite under heating conditions.

4. Formaldehyde - carcinogenic and teratogenic

Several studies have found that formaldehyde can induce cancers of the oral cavity, nose, throat, skin, and digestive system.

Studies have shown that the release of formaldehyde is a slow and long process, which lasts as long as 10 to 15 years and can cause teratogenic and carcinogenic hazards to the human body.

Common sources of formaldehyde:

1. Joint glue in decoration

Experiments have shown that no matter how good the materials are, formaldehyde may remain for a long time as long as urea-formaldehyde resin glue is used. Urea-formaldehyde resin glue is the grout glue used in house decoration, and is used in corners and joints of doors, windows, furniture, floors, etc.

2. Poor quality clothing

When buying clothes, you should first smell whether there is any peculiar smell. If there is a pungent smell on the clothes, most of these clothes contain excessive formaldehyde.

3. Car mats

In August 2015, a test conducted by the market supervision department of Ningbo City on car mats showed that among the 22 randomly purchased car mat samples, 17 groups had formaldehyde concentrations exceeding the limit, with the most serious one exceeding 127.3 times.

4. Poor quality imitation porcelain tableware

Inferior quality imitation porcelain tableware is produced directly with urea-formaldehyde resin instead of melamine resin. It is formed by a chemical reaction between urea and formaldehyde. This substance is highly toxic, easily soluble in water and releases formaldehyde gas.

5. Fresh vegetables such as baby cabbage

Previously, the media frequently exposed that the vegetable market uses formaldehyde to preserve baby cabbage. "If you dip the baby cabbage in this, the root will turn white, and it will be fine if you leave it for three days. If you don't dip it, the root will turn black in one day.

6. Squid and other aquatic products

In order to preserve and increase weight, squid, beef tripe, duck intestines, etc. are most likely to be added by unscrupulous vendors because water-soaked products such as squid treated with formaldehyde can double their weight, thus making more profits.

5. Other common carcinogens

1. Nicotine

Many people know that smoking can inhale nicotine. But you may not know that the smoke produced by burning cigarettes contains at least 2,000 harmful ingredients! So, for the sake of health, stay away from tobacco!

2. Ethanol

The British scientific monthly journal Addiction points out that alcohol can cause cancer and is associated with at least seven types of cancer: oropharyngeal cancer, laryngeal cancer, esophageal cancer, liver cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer and breast cancer.

3. Air pollution

At the end of 2013, the World Health Organization clearly listed air particulate matter (including PM2.5) as a Class I carcinogen.

4. Betel nut

About 60% of oral cancer patients are related to eating betel nuts. In areas such as Hunan and Hainan where oral cancer is prevalent, local people like to eat betel nuts very much.

Finally, it should be noted that exposure to these carcinogens does not necessarily cause cancer. However, in order to reduce the risk of cancer, try to avoid them in your daily life!