Eating salted fish regularly may increase the risk of nasopharyngeal cancer

Guangdong is the region with the highest incidence of nasopharyngeal cancer in the world, which is closely related to the fact that people in this region often eat salted fish. Studies have shown that eating salted fish frequently increases the risk of nasopharyngeal cancer, especially for those who often eat salted fish in childhood. Their risk of developing nasopharyngeal cancer is 30 times that of the general population when they grow up.

There are two kinds of salted fish that people eat in Guangdong. One is to put the caught fish for a period of time, wait for the fish to deteriorate, swell and stink, then add salt to pickle, and dry it to become "moldy-scented salted fish" with a special smell; the other is to add salt to the caught fish in time, and then dry it after 7 days. This kind of salted fish is called "real salted fish" by the locals. When scientists fed rats with the former salted fish, they found that the incidence of nasal and paranasal sinus cancer in rats increased, and the more they ate, the higher the chance of cancer. Further research also found that there are two major reasons why salted fish causes nasopharyngeal cancer: one is that "moldy-scented salted fish" contains high levels of N-nitrosodimethylamine and N-nitrosodiethylamine. Further simulation experiments also confirmed that salted fish containing the above nitrosomin can cause cell mutations; another reason for the high incidence of nasopharyngeal cancer is that there are some chemicals in salted fish that can activate Epstein-Barr virus, and infection with Epstein-Barr virus is a world-recognized activator that can cause nasopharyngeal cancer cell proliferation.