You can’t eat the blackened part of the food! If you eat it, you will get cancer!
I believe many parents will educate their children in this way at the dining table, and many articles on the Internet also say so. Is this really the case?
[Carcinogenic in Theory] Is Not Equal to [Carcinogenic in Practice]
Japan Cancer Research Institute has the highest number of 1607 hospitals in Japan in the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal malignant tumors such as gastrointestinal tumors.
I’d like to share with you what Junqing Yamaguchi, vice president of this hospital and minister of digestive surgery, mentioned in an article:
For a period of time, even in the “Twelve Anti-Cancer Articles” issued by Japan’s National Cancer Center, the phrase “food should avoid blackened parts” was impressively mentioned.
The products of tryptophan blackened in fish, meat and other foods are tryptophan P1 and tryptophan P2, which are indeed classified as [carcinogenic] substances. After being fed directly to rats, these substances can indeed induce liver cancer in rats.
However, if the fish meal is roasted and stirred into the feed before being fed to Hamster in another way, even if the hamster is fed all his life (the hamster’s life span is about 2 years), no cancer is found in the experiment.
The amount of blackened matter fed to hamsters in the experiment is really very large. If it is scaled up to human beings in equal proportion, more than one ton of blackened matter must be eaten every day to cause cancer.
So basically it can be said that no matter how much you like burnt food, you can’t reach this amount…
What should we think of the problem of [carcinogens]?
Point 1: To just say [carcinogenic] but not to talk about quantity is to play rascal.
Burned food can theoretically cause cancer, but in fact it is very difficult. There are two reasons:
1. Burnt matter is not addictive
Carcinogens, tobacco and alcohol are all considered [carcinogens], but tobacco and alcohol can make some people addicted, thus indulging in them, constantly contacting them over time, and eventually causing cancer.
Burned black is usually only attached to food, accounting for a reasonable proportion, so that it will have good color, aroma and taste, and will attract people to eat it. If the whole piece of meat is burnt, it is estimated that you cannot swallow it at all… … …
2. Intake of scorched matter not up to carcinogenic amount
In the above-mentioned experiment, hamsters were fed food mixed with large doses of scorched black and did not develop cancer. According to the corresponding proportion, the amount of scorched black that needed to be eaten was even more astonishing, requiring more than one ton. No one can eat such a large amount of scorched black.
Therefore, in daily life, I occasionally eat the blackened food on the roasted fish and barbecue, so I don’t need to worry too much.
Point 2: The human body has the ability to defend itself against cancer.
[Exposure to carcinogens] does not mean [occurrence of cancer].
Human cells usually have a complete set of defense mechanisms including DNA damage repair to prevent cancer.
Only with age, this protection mechanism will slowly weaken. Once the accumulation of [damage] to cell DNA exceeds a certain limit, cancer may occur.
However, in everyone’s body, the boundary against cancer is different, not [all men are created equal]:
- Some people have strong cell repair ability and are not easily affected. This is also why some people always say that my next-door neighbor’s uncle’s friend has smoked for 50 years and often drank alcohol, but he has no cancer. People with poor living habits have a higher risk of cancer, but there is always an example. Do you have to compare with him? Some people do not have such a good life and are relatively weak, so they are vulnerable to factors such as carcinogens and living habits.
Point 3: Not all scorched objects are carcinogenic
The International Agency for Cancer Research has classified carcinogens according to the strength of research evidence. Barbecue is [likely to cause cancer], not [strong carcinogenic effect].
Moreover, not all blackened substances may cause cancer: animal foods are rich in protein, and after blackening, the above-mentioned carcinogens will be produced.
However, rice, vegetables, fruits and so on, even if blackened, will not produce similar carcinogens. Although it may be bad to eat, it does not cause cancer.
However, the risk of blackened food is not only [carcinogenic]
We don’t need to worry about cancer just because the food is a little blackened, and then we simply don’t eat it.
In fact, what really needs to be paid attention to is that blackened food generally has other characteristics, which may affect human health. The impact on human health is not limited to whether it is carcinogenic.
1. Be careful of frying, high oil, high sugar and high temperature.
Burned things are often fried, high-fat, high-sugar, or very hot. If eaten in large quantities, it may cause cancer and other health problems by principles other than blackening.
Step 2 Beware of High Salt
Many barbecue foods are also high in salt, which is also a risk factor for health hazards.
Long-term consumption of high-salt food not only easily leads to hypertension, but also causes damage to esophagus and gastric mucosa.
These [strong carcinogenic] substances can be avoided in life.
If you pay a little attention to those definite carcinogens, you will find that we may eat carcinogens through diet almost every day, and the environment we live in will always come into contact with various carcinogens.
In modern life, many carcinogens cannot be absolutely avoided.
Therefore, what we can do is to avoid carcinogens that have [definite carcinogenic effect] and are completely conditionally avoided.
They are:
- Alcohol, Tobacco, Heat Insulation Material Used in Areca Nut Old Houses in Southern China, Asbestos, Formaldehyde Often Exceeding Standard in Decoration of New Houses, Dioxin Moldy Grain (such as Rice) Produced by Indiscriminate Burning of Domestic Waste or Aflatoxin on Peanuts, Helicobacter Pylori Infected and Carried by Small Infection…
However, burnt food does not belong to the carcinogen classification of [definite carcinogen]; Moreover, after all, fried and roasted food will inevitably be slightly blackened. It is not very realistic to completely avoid it.
Of course, from the taste point of view, it is not delicious to roast too much food.