Cooking for 1 hour = half a pack of cigarettes

The risk of lung cancer in middle-aged and elderly women increases threefold due to cooking fumes?

"Cooking for 1 hour = smoking half a pack of cigarettes?" Recently, a topic on the Internet titled "Middle-aged and elderly women are exposed to high-temperature oil fumes for a long time and become a high-risk group for lung cancer" has attracted the attention and heated discussion of the general public. The post stated, "A survey by the Shanghai Tongji University Cancer Research Institute found that middle-aged and elderly women have a 2-3 times increased risk of lung cancer due to long-term exposure to high-temperature cooking fumes. The survey showed that among non-smoking women's risk factors for lung cancer, more than 60% of women have long-term exposure to kitchen fumes; 32% of women like to fry food in high-temperature oil when cooking, and the kitchen doors and windows are closed or poorly ventilated." Many netizens reposted the post, and some said, "I will never cook in this life, and I can marry you if I want."

It is not possible to unilaterally determine that the cause of the disease is only caused by a single factor.

In this regard, Yin Weiqiang, director of the Department of Thoracic Surgery at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, said that from a clinical point of view, the proportion of women suffering from lung cancer has increased by about 10% compared with before, among which middle-aged and elderly women account for a large proportion. But we cannot understand it too mechanically as all of it is caused by oil smoke. He said that whether it is lung cancer or other malignant tumors, they may be the result of the long-term effects of multiple factors such as smoking, decreased immune function, and psychological emotions. Even for some pathogenic factors whose causes are relatively clear and whose carcinogenic consequences are relatively recognized, we cannot unilaterally conclude that the cause of the disease is only caused by a single factor.

Why does lung cancer rank first in mortality?

Just a few days ago, the Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention released the latest cancer monitoring. Lung cancer ranks first in both incidence and mortality of malignant tumors in Guangzhou. Why is lung cancer so aggressive? "The high mortality rate of lung cancer is mainly because 2/3 of patients are already in the middle and late stages of lung cancer when they are discovered." Yin Weiqiang said that patients should never wait until they have symptoms to see a doctor, because lung cancer often shows clinical symptoms only when the disease develops to the middle and late stages, such as coughing up blood, chest pain, severe irritating cough, and difficulty breathing. "It is recommended that patients pay close attention and undergo a CT scan as soon as possible if they experience one or two of the above symptoms, or if respiratory diseases frequently recur after being cured, or if the joints of the hands and feet suddenly swell." Only about 15% of lung cancer can be diagnosed early before the cancer cells spread to nearby lymph nodes or other parts. The five-year survival rate of lung cancer patients without lymph node metastasis can reach 50%.

People over 45 should have a low-dose spiral CT scan every two years

Yin Weiqiang said that the shape of the lung itself is very uniform in imaging examinations, and once a shadow appears, the chance of lung cancer is relatively high. In fact, many early diagnoses of lung cancer are accidental and are discovered during examinations for other diseases, such as heart disease and pneumonia, which require imaging examinations, bronchoscopy, and cancer cytology examinations. Therefore, Yin Weiqiang suggested that people with a high risk of lung cancer, such as old smokers over 45 (40) years old, chefs and cooks who are exposed to high-temperature oil fumes for a long time, should undergo a low-dose spiral CT examination every two years.

It is best to avoid contact with oil smoke

Regarding the statement on the Internet, "Cooking for 1 hour = smoking half a pack of cigarettes?", Director Yin Weiqiang said that from the chemical composition point of view, oil smoke and smoking are very different, so the above statement is not comparable. However, the fumes produced when cooking are indeed not good for human health, especially they are very harmful to the upper respiratory tract and nervous system. Moreover, the chemical components contained in oil smoke also contain carcinogenic factors, so it is better to be exposed to it in small amounts.

Experiments prove that oil smoke is harmful

Some experts have conducted experiments and found that if oil is heated to 150°C, acrolein, the main component of oil smoke, will be produced. Acrolein has a strong pungent taste and is quite irritating to the mucous membranes of the nose, eyes, and throat, and may cause rhinitis, pharyngitis, tracheitis and other diseases. Experiments have found that when rapeseed oil and soybean oil are heated to 270~280℃, the oil mist condensate produced may cause damage to cell chromosomes and may cause cancer. Some people also like to let the oil burn when cooking. At this time, the oil temperature can reach 350°C. This situation is even more harmful to health. In addition to possibly inducing respiratory diseases, it also has potential cancer risks. Generally speaking, if the oil is smoking, it means that the oil temperature has reached its limit, and the harmful substances in the oil smoke are at their highest level at this time.