Salted fish cause cancer? Eat or not?

For most people who eat salted fish, they do not suffer from nasopharyngeal cancer. The result of scientific research just tells us that regular eating of salted fish will amplify a “very small possibility” by a factor of ten. Specific to individuals, is to avoid the possibility of this increase is still not much more than ten times, or to enjoy the delicious salted fish is the people should grasp the "right to choose."

Beijing News Report

Nasopharyngeal cancer is a cancer with a low incidence. The incidence in Europe and the United States is around one in 100,000. However, it is particularly favored by people in southern China. The data shows that the incidence of men in South China is between 10/20 and 10/20, and there are also 5 to 10/100,000 women. In some areas of Guangdong even up to 50/50.

In 1970, some scholars suggested that this phenomenon may be the result of the interaction of three factors; different genes, premature infection with EBV virus and salted fish. EBV is a relatively widespread virus that is not unique to South China and does not attract much attention. As for genes, some epidemiological surveys have found that people in South China who migrated to the United States, Canada, and other places still maintain a high incidence of nasopharyngeal cancer; however, the incidence of their descendants has begun to decline. The researchers believe that this is due to the fact that these immigrants gradually gave up their ancestral lifestyle. Therefore, genetic factors are less noticeable.

Why are salted fish, especially Chinese-style salted fish, carcinogenic? It is speculated that salted fish is the product of salted fish with high concentrations. Chinese-style salted fish have dehydration steps and some nitroso acids are formed in the process. Compound. These nitroso compounds, such as nitrosodimethylamine, have shown carcinogenicity in in vitro experiments. However, the mechanism by which these nitroso compounds induce nasopharyngeal cancer remains unclear. However, human beings sentenced to a food "carcinogenic" crime does not require complete evidence, the previous "case-control" studies and animal experiments have been convicted enough. In the “Committee on Diet, Nutrition, and Chronic Disease Prevention and Control” issued by the Joint Expert Group of the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), it was clearly stated that the dietary factors that have sufficient evidence of cancer are obesity, alcoholism, aflatoxin, and Chinese salted fish. Those foreign “carcinogenic foods” that we usually talk about are overshadowed.

But in real life, we do not feel that foods such as salted fish are "carcinogenic." On the one hand, these things are traditional, natural, and have not been industrially processed. We can easily confuse the ancients with “I don’t know if I got cancer” and they “haven't gotten cancer,” so it’s safe to believe that what the ancestors eat is safe. On the other hand, the incidence of such diseases as nasopharyngeal cancer is very low, even in those "high incidence areas" in Guangdong, the total incidence is very low. One of the 100,000 people is still dozens. It may not make any difference to the feeling in real life.