"I invite you to dinner, garlic, okra, green tea, sweet potatoes, eggplant, onions, red wine and mushrooms ..."
So are these widely circulated "anti-cancer foods" useful? Tadpole Jun took stock of the big stars in several "anti-cancer foods" and gave you a brief analysis.
garlic
Indeed, studies have shown that allicin in garlic can not only block the synthesis of ammonium nitrite (a chemical carcinogen), but also competitively combine with nitrite to reduce the damage of nitrite to normal cells.
But this is just laboratory evidence. Although tumor cells are happy in human body, they are very fragile in laboratory Petri dishes. If the temperature is too high, you will die; If the temperature is too low, you will die; If there are too many ultraviolet rays, concentrated sulfuric acid and water and too little water, you will all die. Research results cannot be simply pushed to people.
So, if you like garlic, just eat it normally. If you don't like it, don't chew garlic to fight cancer. After all, eating too much may affect finding a partner.
sweet potato
Sweet potatoes are really delicious, low in fat and calories, full and relaxed, but don't expect to fight cancer.
Although the sugar, fat and storage protein in sweet potato have anti-cancer effects, like garlic, these studies are basically animal experiments, cell experiments and other preliminary experiments, and clinical trials have not found that sweet potato has anti-cancer functions.
So sweet potatoes are good when they are hungry, but cancer is not good. Eating too much is easy to fart, which will also affect finding a partner.
red wine
The argument that red wine can fight cancer is mainly due to the "resveratrol" contained in it.
Resveratrol is a polyphenol compound. Through animal experiments, scientists found that resveratrol can delay tumor growth and prevent cancer.
However, it should be emphasized that in animal experiments, the "anticancer effect" of resveratrol requires a large dose, which is equivalent to hundreds to thousands of milligrams per day in human beings.
The content of resveratrol in red wine is only 0.5-10 mg/L. That is to say, even if resveratrol is really effective for human body, you have to drink 180 bottles a day to remember its anticancer effect.
Finally, I want to say that alcohol, a first-class carcinogen, will do harm to people's health (no matter how much medicinal materials are soaked in your bottle).
ferment
The word "enzyme" came from Japanese, and later entered the mainland through Taiwan Province Province. In fact, it is the enzyme in foreign vests.
There are more than 700 kinds of enzymes found in human body, which can be synthesized by themselves without additional supplementation. Even if you need to supplement, you can't take it orally.
For example, SOD (Superoxide Dismutase) is one of the most important enzymes in human body, and it is also the main product of enzyme vendors. However, through comparative experiments, it can be found that the SOD activity unit in enzyme preparation is not as good as that in lettuce and tomato of the same quality. So instead of going to the vegetable market to buy two pounds of tomatoes, it is better to spend a lot of money on concept products.
Enzyme products are general nutritious foods, and the main consumer groups in Japan are the elderly. However, after entering the China market, some merchants put the concept of enzyme on it, and what's more, they packaged it into a magical tonic that can cure all diseases. Anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antitumor and anticancer.
Taxus China
First of all, there is a concept that must be clarified: paclitaxel extracted from the bark of Taxus chinensis has anti-cancer effect, and paclitaxel is a very common chemotherapy drug with anti-tumor effect.
However, the taxol content in the bark of Taxus chinensis is very low. Ten kilograms of bark can extract 1 g paclitaxel, which is insoluble in water. Therefore, soaking the bark of Taxus chinensis in water to make tea can not play its anti-cancer role.
In addition, in the absence of doctor's guidance, long-term consumption of a large number of yew may have serious side effects such as inhibiting bone marrow hematopoietic function and reducing white blood cell count. Therefore, individuals had better not eat yew by themselves.
(edible) auricularia auricula
The argument that auricularia auricula can resist cancer is because previous studies claimed that anticancer genes were found in auricularia auricula.
But there are anti-cancer genes that can fight cancer.
In biology, "containing a gene" only means that the expression product of the gene has some activity. As for whether this gene expresses products in actual growth, how high the expression level is, how much it needs to be taken to be effective, and whether there will be toxic and side effects at an effective dose is also unknown.
Moreover, scientists will regularly publish articles in some magazines, saying that a gene has been found in an organism, which can synthesize a substance that can inhibit the growth of cancer cells.
However, due to the extremely complex human environment, experiments on human bodies involve many problems. Although scientists often find that a certain food contains potential anticancer components, few people can really prove it effective.
carrot
Carotene in carrots, as an antioxidant, can eliminate harmful free radicals in the body, thus preventing cancer.
However, this is not the case.
Oxidative free radicals can indeed destroy DNA, but their destructive ability is limited and the bad cells produced are limited. Moreover, most cells destroyed by free radicals will soon be automatically destroyed by our immune system, and it will not be their turn to cause aging or cancer. What really causes aging and cancer is system change.
To take a step back, even if a few cells destroyed by free radicals survive, it is impossible to eliminate or prevent the production of such cells by eating antioxidants from the outside. What is needed is an antioxidant that can directly act on the inside of cells, and it cannot be eaten.
Moreover, almost every kind of fruit and vegetable contains antioxidants, just a matter of how much. If carrots can fight cancer, so can other fruits and vegetables.
Therefore, antioxidants are not so magical, and there is absolutely no need to eat antioxidant health products.
Other "anticancer foods"
There are still many anticancer foods circulating, so I won't explain them here.
These anti-cancer foods are either false propaganda by merchants, or they simply can't reach the effective dose or have no exact clinical basis.
In short, it is impossible to beat cancer by eating only a single food. If you want to fight cancer, you should have a balanced diet, eat everything, drink less and don't smoke.
The copyright of the content signed "Tadpole Staff" belongs to Tadpole Staff, and any media, website or individual may not reprint it without authorization, otherwise the corresponding legal responsibility shall be investigated. Please send an email to editor@kedo.gov.cn to apply for reprinting authorization or cooperation. The signed articles published on this website only represent the author's views and have nothing to do with this website. If there is any infringement, you are responsible.
Author: Tadpole Jun