12 myths about carcinogens that have long been unbelievable
Educational Program Health / / December 30, 2020
The word "carcinogen" comes from the Latin cancer - "cancer". This term denotesWhat is a carcinogen? everything that can cause the formation of malignant tumors.
The concept has long been widely known. In many respects, therefore, it is used at random, often attributing carcinogenic properties to those substances or phenomena that are in no way associated with cancer. Or, on the contrary, considering safe those that actually threaten health. The life hacker has figured out the most popular myths about carcinogens.
1. Carcinogens are only food
Not at all. Carcinogens are a broad concept that includes objects that can be touched or eaten, as well as natural phenomena or other factors. They have only one thing in common: they are all capable of leading to the development of oncological processes.
Cancer triggers, in addition to food, can beWhat is a carcinogen?:
- bad habits - smoking, alcoholism;
- natural factors - ultraviolet radiation, radon gas, causative agents of some infectious diseases (hepatitis C viruses, human papillomas, Epstein-Barr);
- medical factors - various types of radiation, taking certain medications;
- work in a hazardous industry when a person breathes in toxic substances or touches them;
- contact with environmental pollutants - for example, exhaust gases and chemical emissions;
- genetic features.
2. All carcinogens are dangerous and certainly cause cancer
The list of carcinogens includes thousands of substances and phenomena. However, scientists still cannot say for sure that this product or phenomenon will cause cancer, and the other will not. In order for a malignant neoplasm to develop in the body, many conditions must coincideKnown and Probable Human Carcinogens.
Some carcinogens become dangerous only with a certain type of contact: for example, it is not enough to touch them - they must be inhaled or swallowed. Also important are the dose, exposure time, genetics the one who is exposed to this influence, and other factors that scientists have not fully understood.
The result is paradoxical situations. Someone discovers throat or lung cancer after a couple of years of daily smoking. And the other smokes for decades without any malignant consequences.
It will not work to predict which of the carcinogens is dangerous in your case, and which one you can give up on. Too much depends on a coincidence.
The only thing that each of us can do is to try to minimize the influence of most carcinogens on the body. However, this also does not guarantee one hundred percent protection against cancer.
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3. Avoiding all chemicals and living a healthy lifestyle will not get cancer.
"Before, people ate normal food, breathed clean air, did not wash with any chemistry - and they did not have cancer!" You've probably heard something like that. Many people associate carcinogenicity with synthetic, artificially created substances or phenomena. But in reality there is no such connection.
DNA mutations that trigger the development of malignant cells are also caused by completely naturalParacelsus to parascience: the environmental cancer distraction factors: monotonous diet, fungi living on certain types of nuts and grains, individual infections.
Moreover, scientists from Johns Hopkins University discoveredNew Study Finds That Most Cancer Mutations are Due to Random DNA Copying 'Mistakes'that two-thirds of the mutations leading to cancer are due to random errors in the natural copying of DNA. And only the rest is under the influence of carcinogens.
Bert Vogelstein, professor of oncologyCancer occurs regardless of how healthy your environment isNew Study Finds That Most Cancer Mutations are Due to Random DNA Copying 'Mistakes'.
That is why cancer often affects even those who lead a healthy lifestyle: do not drink, do not smoke, lives in an ecologically clean area, eats natural products, plays sports and monitors weight.
4. There are no carcinogens in fruits, vegetables and nuts
This is often thought because plant foods are rich. antioxidants. This is the name of substances that protect the body from free radicals that canAntioxidants and Cancer Prevention provoke DNA mutations.
The fact that plants contain potentially useful substances does not make them unequivocally safe.
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC; WHO unitWhat is a carcinogen?) made a listAgents Classified by the IARC Monographs, Volumes 1–125 carcinogens. In the constantly updated list, you can also find "plant" items. For example, coconut oil and aloe are potentially carcinogenic.
Or the most powerful carcinogen - aflatoxins. These dangerous compounds are produced by molds, which settle on long-stored grains and nuts, in peanut butter.
As for vegetables and fruits, in any of them, even those grown without fertilizers, contains nitratesThe nitrate content of fresh and cooked vegetables and their health-related risks - nitric acid salts, necessary for development and growth. These are natural substances that plants receive from the soil. Getting into the human body, nitrates are convertedNitrate in vegetables and their impact on human health. A review into toxic nitrites, and those into carcinogens nitrosamines.
The nitrate content in quality vegetables and fruits is low and therefore does not pose a serious danger. But in plant foods that were grown using nitrogenous fertilizers, the concentration of these salts can be increased.
Another risk factor is pesticides. These weed control chemicals are carcinogenic and are associatedCancer health effects of pesticides with the development, in particular, of leukemia, brain cancer, prostate, kidney.
5. Drinking a lot of coffee can lead to cancer.
Really, coffee included in the IARC list of carcinogens. But here we need to take a closer look at what this list is.
All substances and effects studied by IARC are assigned a special digital codeIARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Human, showing the degree of their danger.
- 1 - carcinogenic to humans.
- 2A and 2B are potentially carcinogenic to humans. Category A ("highly likely to cause cancer") has a higher hazard than category B ("possibly causes cancer"). In both cases, conclusions are drawn from a limited number of studies and are therefore not considered conclusive.
- 3 - Not classified as carcinogenic to humans. This means that there is no evidence of a link between substances and cancer in humans, but in animal studies, it is sometimes found.
- 4 - non-carcinogenic to humans.
Coffee belongs to category 3: it is not carcinogenic to humans.
6. If you eat meat and sausage, you will definitely get cancer.
But this application has more solid grounds. Red meat (pork, beef) in the IARC classification is included in category 2A. And meat products - sausages, sausages, smoked meats - have been assigned code 1. In the same group are well-known carcinogens such as cigarette smoke, solar and X-ray radiation, exhaust gases and, for example, plutonium.
But really sunlight and ham or beef jerky are as harmful as x-rays and plutonium?
Of course not. As explainsQuestions and answers about the carcinogenicity of red meat and meat products WHO, if substances or exposures fall into the same category, this does not mean that they are equally dangerous. The IARC classification reflects only the degree of credibility of scientific evidence that a particular factor is the cause of cancer. But it does not assess the risks, that is, the frequency and rate of DNA mutations.
Thus, the connection between meat and cancer (specifically, colorectal cancer) has been established. But meat products do not lead to oncological processes quickly and by no means always: much depends on how many steaks or sausages you eat.
According toQuestions and answers about the carcinogenicity of red meat and meat products WHO, a daily consumption of 50 grams or more of meat products increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 18% compared to those who eat less. However, the same WHO calls not to abandon red and processed meat at all, but only to reduce its amount in the diet, rightly pointing out that animal protein is important for health.
To reduce the risks, it is enough to eat no more than 50-70Meat in your diet g of meat or sausages per day.
And, as mentioned above, food is by no means the main factor in the development of cancer.
7. The main carcinogens are stress and resentment.
The myth about the psychosomatic nature of cancer is very common. Someone thinks that accumulated and unspoken grievances cause oncology. Others callDarned Bottom Chronicle # 11: Cancer Resentment cancer "the program of self-destruction of those who could not learn to love themselves."
However, there is no scientific evidence that resentment, stress, any other negative (and positive) emotions could lead to DNA mutations.
Another question is that people under constant stress often acquire bad habits - they start smoking, drinking, overeating, and restrict physical activity. This lifestyle really increases the risk of developing cancer. This is directly stated by the WHO, which names the most frequent "behavioral" causes of cancer deathCrayfish the following:
- tall body mass index;
- low consumption of fruits and vegetables;
- lack of physical activity;
- smoking and alcohol addiction.
Conclusion: it is not so much stress and resentment that you need to fear, but an unhealthy lifestyle in general.
8. Frying food in a Teflon pan (especially scratched) will cause the food to become carcinogenic
There are some reasons for this myth. For the production of Teflon non-stick coatings, materials containing perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a probable carcinogen (group 2A in the IARC classification), are sometimes used. When heated, this substance can theoretically be released into the air.
In practice, it was not possible to confirm the danger of such a coating. For example, Robert Walk, a professor of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh and author of What Einstein Said His Chef, recallsTeflon Pans and Cancer: Is There a Link?: the production of non-stick cookware is a long process, which includes, among other things, heating to high temperatures. So all of the PFO leaves the coating even before the pan reaches the store.
Robert Walk, professor of chemistry, commentary for WebMDThere is no PFOA in the final Teflon product, so there is no risk of the cookware causing cancer in those who use it.
In researchInvestigation into the migration potential of coating materials from cookware products, published in the journal Food Additives and Contaminants, scientists tested 26 non-stick pans and pans. They heated them up to 250 ° C for 30 minutes and did not find any harmful substances either in the surrounding air or in the prepared dishes.
The only negative effect is the possible appearance flu-like symptoms if you inhale the fumes of a very overheated coating. As statedPerfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA), Teflon, and Related Chemicals American Cancer Society, there are no other proven health risks when using Teflon cookware.
9. Microwaves add carcinogens to food
Microwave warms up food but does not changeMicrowaves, Radio Waves, and Other Types of Radiofrequency Radiation its chemical or molecular structure. Moreover, microwave radiation does not alter the DNA in your cells - at least for the simple reason that it is inside the oven and you are outside.
Some people are afraid to stand next to working microwaves. But WHO never tires of repeatingMicrowave ovens: working ovens are safe and their radiation outside the closed door tends to zero. If you are still worried, just move half a meter away from the switched on device: at such a distance the level even the minimum radiation that can be theoretically recorded near the door will decrease by a hundred time.
10. Radiation from mobile phones causes cancer
Doesn't exist yetCellular phones studies that would establish a link between cell phone use and the development of tumors.
But scientists are reinsured. Therefore, IARC has classified the entire spectrum of radio-frequency emissions, of which mobile signals are a part, as “Possibly carcinogenic” (category 2B). For comparison: to the same group relate eating pickled vegetables and using talcum powder.
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11. Regular shampoos contain carcinogens, so you need to switch to organic
The ability to cause cancer is most often attributed to sodium lauryl and sodium laureth sulfate - surfactants (surfactants), which are found in many shampoos, shower gels, foams, dishwashing detergents and other detergents funds. And this is an outright delusion.
Neither sodium lauryl nor sodium laureth sulfate are included in the IARC list of carcinogens or similar listTable 1. Prioritized Chronic Dose-Response Values for Screening Risk Assessmentscompiled by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. So there is not the slightest sense to switch to more expensive (and not always effective) organic cosmetics solely for fear of earning cancer.
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12. There are ways to avoid exposure to carcinogens.
It is unlikely. Even sunlight, tea or drinking water have a carcinogenic effect.
Alexey Vodovozov, therapist of the highest category, interview to the YouTube channel NaukaPROIn the fourth category (IARC list. - Lifehacker), a category of proven non-carcinogens, there is only one substance - caprolactam, which is what women's tights are made of. All other substances in the world to one degree or another are classified by this agency as carcinogens.Alexey Vodovozov - Which is more dangerous: a cigarette or a sausage?.
Therefore, completely avoiding contact with carcinogens will not work. No matter how hard you try.
But there is good news too. We come across many carcinogens in metered quantities and are not under their influence for a long time. This means that the risk that they can harm is not so great.
The best thing to do is to stop thinking about how many carcinogens are in toast or, say, hair dye, and focus on the things that affect our lives more and longer:
- Quit smoking.
- Take care of good nutrition.
- Increase physical activity and normalize weight.
- Monitor your health - regularly undergo preventive medical examinations.
This is really important.
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