Can eating cured foods such as bacon cause cancer?

Mondo Health Updated on 2024-03-06

Bacon is a lot of people love to eat food, because of the general lack of refrigeration and freezing equipment in ancient and modern times, can not safely store meat food, in order to avoid the rapid deterioration of meat and create a meat processing technology, which is particularly popular in all parts of the country, especially in the hot and humid areas in the south. There are similar meat products in other countries around the world, such as Iberian ham from Spain, smoked sausage from Germany, etc. Meat foods similar to bacon processing technology mainly include: salted meat, preserved fish, sausage, smoked sausage, wind chicken, plate duck, wind goose, cured pork knuckle, Jinhua ham, Xuanwei ham, salted fish.

In the process of processing and aging bacon, high salt and smoking are used to preservative, and then the meat enters the process of slow fat decomposition and oxidation, and the aroma of bacon mainly comes from the slow decomposition of fat, so the older the bacon or ham, the more fragrant it is. But in this process, nutrients such as protein, fat, and vitamins are gradually lost in meat. Under the action of bacteria, the naturally occurring nitrate in the meat is transformed into nitrite, which is a natural nitrite that is not artificially added, and at this time the flavor of the bacon begins to become rich. In fact, the trace amount of nitrite in food is not terrible, and it is precisely because of nitrite that there is a food industry, but what is worrying is that nitrite and amines, the breakdown products of meat proteins, combine into nitrosamines, which are real carcinogens. The survey found that there is strong evidence that there is a causal relationship between people who regularly eat salted and salty foods and the occurrence of gastric cancer.

The test study found that the risk of cancer in Guangdong pickled fish was significantly increased, especially in Guangdong, and the incidence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Guangdong was positively correlated with the intake of pickled fish and other foods, and the evidence level was strong. Salted fish, bacon, smoked sausages and other foods are foods with high nitrosamine content, and it is best not to eat them if you can eat less, and it is best not to eat them if you can.

Even if you want to eat cured meat such as bacon, you must completely remove the oxidized fat on the surface; It is recommended to blanch the bacon slices with boiling water before frying, which can remove some nitrite and nitrosamines; When eating bacon, preserved fish, sausage and other foods, try to eat more foods with high vitamin C and other antioxidants, such as brightly colored vegetables and fruits, and should not be cooked with too spicy seasonings to avoid irritating the mucous membrane of the digestive tract; Drinking plenty of water can also speed up the metabolism of harmful substances; When eating pickled meat foods such as bacon or pickled vegetables such as sour cabbage and capers, it is recommended not to drink alcohol, especially high liquor, because excessive alcohol intake can damage the gastric mucosa and liver cells, reducing the body's ability to resist harmful substances.

When eating bacon, smoked fish, and pickled foods, you need to consume more antioxidant-rich vegetables or fruits such as vitamin C to reduce the synthesis of nitrosamines from nitrite and amines, and remove oxygen free radicals in the body. In addition to uncommon wild fruits with high vitamin C such as sea buckthorn, prickly pear and wild sour dates, fresh dates, kiwi fruits, and pineapples are relatively high in vitamin C among the fruits on the market.

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