"More than half of digestive tract cancers in China are caused by eating!" These eating habits should be avoided

The Chinese are famous for their love of food. With the rapid development of society, the diet has become more and more diverse. Because of China's special diet, our country has become a well-deserved "digestive tract cancer power". Why is the situation of digestive tract cancer in our country so serious? Let's talk about it together.

01More than half of digestive tract cancers in China are caused by eating too much

**Digestive tract cancer mainly refers to gastric cancer, esophageal cancer, and intestinal cancer. **According to data from the National Cancer Center, these three major cancers account for 43.3% of all cancer incidences in my country, nearly half. Moreover, the incidence rates of various types of digestive tract cancer are "top of the world", **the incidence rates of gastric cancer, esophageal cancer, and liver cancer are ranked first in the world, and the incidence rate of colorectal cancer is closely behind, ranking second in the world. **A study published by Harvard University in the top journal "Gastroenterology" analyzed 20 years of data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS). The results showed that **Chinese people's gastric cancer is most strongly related to high sodium intake, colorectal cancer is related to high red meat intake, esophageal cancer is related to smoking, and the most important factor for liver cancer is obesity. **It can be said that they are all inseparable from "eating". "Cancer comes from the mouth" is no longer a scary saying, it is happening to countless people.

02These 4 eating habits are the root of trouble

The occurrence of gastrointestinal cancer is closely related to diet, and Chinese eating habits are the main factor why gastrointestinal cancer prefers Chinese people.

1. Love to eat pickled food

Chinese people love to eat high-salt preserved foods such as pickles, bacon, and various sauces. The high osmotic pressure of salt can irritate the gastric mucosa, which can cause congestion, edema, erosion, ulcers, and other lesions in the gastric mucosa over a long period of time. In addition, the nitrite contained in preserved foods is highly carcinogenic.

2. Love hot pot and barbecue

Chinese people always like to "eat while it's hot", especially hot pot. However , over-scalding food can easily damage the esophageal mucosa and gastric mucosa, causing a vicious cycle of "damage-proliferation-repair" in the mucosa, leading to chronic inflammation and increasing the risk of cancer. As for barbecue, food grilled over high temperatures is prone to produce carcinogenic substances such as benzopyrene and nitrosamines.

3. Love to drink

**Alcohol dissolves mucus and biofilm, causing the gastric mucus layer to become thinner, weakening the protective barrier of the gastric mucosa,** thus leading to gastric mucosal erosion or gastric ulcer and other related gastric diseases. In addition, East Asians are more likely to have acetaldehyde dehydrogenase gene defects, that is, they have a lower ability to metabolize alcohol, so drinking alcohol is more likely to cause cancer.

4. Shared dining culture

Helicobacter pylori lives on the gastric mucosa, and the large amount of toxins and inflammatory factors it releases can cause damage and inflammation of the gastric mucosa, which is the main factor in chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer, gastric cancer and other diseases. Due to the Chinese culture of communal dining, saliva contact has become an excellent way for Helicobacter pylori to spread, with an infection rate of up to 56%.

03Repair gastric mucosa in time to prevent cancer from taking advantage

In fact, the most common basis for gastrointestinal diseases is gastric mucosal damage. The most common early symptoms are stomach pain, stomach acid, and stomach bloating, but many people often do not pay attention to it.

As the damage becomes more and more serious, the gastric mucosal cells will be repeatedly damaged, repaired, and divided, and the stomach will gradually have a stronger reaction, and chronic gastritis, duodenal ulcer, and gastric ulcer will follow. Moreover, the reason why many patients always have recurring stomach problems is that the gastric mucosal barrier has not been repaired and rebuilt. If this continues for a long time, it may even develop into gastric cancer.

**Gastrointestinal diseases require "three parts treatment and seven parts care". **Maintaining the gastric mucosa is a long process. In addition to drug treatment, it is more important to improve bad eating habits and persist in nourishing and protecting the stomach for a long time.