This is the way office workers bring lunch that hurts their stomach the most

"White-collar workers get stomach cancer from eating out every day", "Fast food and western fast food destroy the stomach and intestines" ... In recent years, incidents of bad eating habits damaging the stomach have frequently appeared in the newspapers, causing many white-collar workers to turn pale and try to save themselves, launching a battle to protect their "stomachs". Many people follow the example of Japanese office workers and bring their own meals to work. However, Professor Lin Feng, director of general surgery and director of gastrointestinal surgery at the Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, pointed out that bringing lunch to work is not the most nutritious and healthiest. Long-term unscientific eating habits can also damage the stomach, and in severe cases can even induce gastric cancer.

Case: A colleague was diagnosed with gastric cancer, which led to a trend of bringing food with you

In order to say goodbye to high-calorie French fries and fried chicken wings, eat more fresh vegetables, and supplement nutrition comprehensively, Xiao Liang, a white-collar worker working in an educational consulting agency, started bringing his own lunch to work three months ago. Xiao Liang said that one of the triggers for bringing lunch was that last year a colleague under the age of 30 was found to have hyperlipidemia during a physical examination. Shortly afterwards, a department head was diagnosed with gastric cancer, which made everyone feel the need to protect their stomachs. So, led by two pregnant female colleagues, more and more people started bringing lunch to work, and this year this phenomenon has become the mainstream in the company.

Xiao Liang said that every morning, she would get up an hour earlier to prepare lunch as she lives alone. The ingredients are bought from the supermarket the night before. Generally, there will be one vegetable dish, one meat dish or the simplest scrambled eggs with tomatoes. The staple food is rice or the leftover pancakes and buns from the restaurant the night before, which are heated in the microwave before eating. After bringing his own meals for three months, Xiao Liang felt pretty good.

In this regard, Lin Feng said that bringing lunch to work has its pros and cons. If done well, it can protect the stomach and intestines. However, from what he has learned, many people do not consider the actual conditions and blindly imitate the Japanese "lunch-bringing tribe", falling into misunderstandings such as bringing overnight meals, improper cooking and storage of ingredients, which puts them at risk of damaging their stomachs.

Interpretation: Beware of three misunderstandings when bringing your own food

Mistake 1: Bringing leftovers

Lin Feng said that using overnight leftovers for lunch would increase the chance of food being contaminated by bacteria. "A big problem with bringing your own lunch is that it's hard to control bacterial contamination. Your taste buds and eyes can't tell there's anything unusual about the food, but in fact the bacteria have already multiplied rapidly in the leftovers." Lin Feng pointed out that some people think there won't be any big problems if they store leftovers in the refrigerator. In fact, the temperature in the refrigerator is 4 degrees Celsius, which is difficult to prevent bacteria from growing.

Lin Feng suggested that you should not bring leftovers as lunch for the next day, and it is best to prepare lunch in the morning. If you are too rushed to cook in the morning, at least after preparing dinner the day before, pack the dishes to be taken the next day, seal them in fresh-keeping boxes or plastic wrap, and store them in the refrigerator to reduce bacterial contamination during the preparation and storage stages.

Myth 2: Preparing vegetables in advance

Vegetables generally contain more nitrates, among which leafy vegetables and root vegetables have relatively high nitrate content, so vegetables must be very fresh. If the green vegetables are left for a long time after being fried, the nitrates they contain will be converted into toxic nitrites under the action of bacterial nitrate reductase, which may increase the risk of gastric cancer. Therefore, it is best to fry and pack them in the morning. Lin Feng pointed out that green vegetables mainly contain fiber and vitamins. Stir-frying or boiling will destroy the vitamins. "The cooking method that maximizes the nutritional value of green vegetables is to make them into vegetable salads."

"The watercress soup that the Cantonese love to drink has a good taste but it has almost no nutritional value." Lin Feng pointed out that the old-fashioned soup with vegetables has a relatively high nitrite content due to the long-term heating of the vegetables, and therefore it should not be included in the lunch list. Pregnant women and people with weak bodies can consider taking chicken soup to supplement protein, but they need to be careful not to cook the soup for too long, and it is not advisable to add a lot of leafy vegetables to the soup.

Misconception 3: Using ordinary lunch boxes to hold meals

Lin Feng suggested that you try not to bring lunch to work in the summer. When you bring lunch, do not use ordinary lunch boxes or bags. Instead, use vacuum containers, insulated lunch boxes, or put them in special insulated bags. When you arrive at the company, it is best to put the food in the refrigerator to minimize the degree of food spoilage. Considering that the food needs to be heated before eating, you can choose microwave-safe glassware to hold the food.

Tips: Regular gastroscopy to keep your stomach safe

"Eating too much, eating at irregular times, and having midnight snacks... modern people's stomachs are really suffering!" Lin Feng pointed out that many young people have bad living and eating habits. Gastric ulcers and acute and chronic gastritis are quite common, which also greatly increases the chance of gastric cancer.

If a patient with gastritis is found to have atypical hyperplasia of gastric mucosal epithelial cells and is infected with Helicobacter pylori, it is generally considered to be a precancerous lesion. According to the diagnostic standards of Japan and other countries, severe atypical hyperplasia of gastric mucosal epithelial cells is diagnosed as early gastric cancer, and surgical resection is usually recommended.

The opposite of "stomach medicine dependence" is "fear of Helicobacter pylori." Once some people are diagnosed with Helicobacter pylori, they feel that they are only one step away from stomach cancer and become very scared. Lin Feng pointed out that Helicobacter pylori can cause chronic gastritis and gastric ulcers.

In, it can lead to gastric cancer. The 13C breath test shows that the Helicobacter pylori carrier rate in the Chinese population is very high, which needs to be taken seriously, but there is no need to panic about it.

In terms of treatment, taking medication regularly for two to four weeks under the guidance of a doctor can usually eliminate Helicobacter pylori. But because the population carrier rate is high, people may quickly become infected through eating together. Lin Feng pointed out that in order to reduce the infection rate of Helicobacter pylori, the public needs to pay attention. Helicobacter pylori is highly contagious and can be transmitted through hands, unclean food, unclean toothbrushes, tableware, feces, etc. Therefore, it is important to develop good hygiene habits in your daily diet to prevent infection. If you often feel stomach pain and bloating, or suffer from gastritis or gastric ulcer, it is best to do a 13C breath test to rule out the possibility of Helicobacter pylori infection. People over the age of 40 are recommended to have a gastroscopy examination once a year to ensure the safety of their "stomach".