Does blushing after drinking increase the risk of liver cancer? To prevent liver cancer, eat less of these foods

Liver cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in my country, and is common in middle-aged men. Because of its high malignancy and rapid progression, patients generally do not feel any discomfort in the early stages, and once symptoms appear, they are often in the middle or late stages. We all know that excessive drinking is the cause of liver cancer, so many people are concerned about whether blushing after drinking makes it easier to get liver cancer?

Be careful if you blush after drinking

Studies have shown that alcohol metabolism in the human body is completed through acetaldehyde deoxygenase 2 (ALDH2). The function of ALDH2 in the human body is to oxidize acetaldehyde into acetic acid, which is not carcinogenic, and finally decompose it into carbon dioxide and water that are harmless to the human body and excreted from the body. However, when the normal gene of ALDH2 mutates, the enzyme will lose its activity, resulting in a more than 6-fold increase in the acetaldehyde concentration in the blood after drinking. Long-term alcoholism will accumulate acetaldehyde in the body, which may eventually lead to liver cancer. The results showed that among those with enzyme deficiency, those who drink more than 3 kilograms of alcohol per month have a 3.51-fold risk of liver cancer than normal gene carriers and non-drinkers; as the total amount of alcohol consumed by the former increases throughout their lives, their risk of liver cancer shows a clear upward trend. We all know that excessive drinking is the cause of liver cancer, so to prevent liver cancer, we should drink less.

Studies have found that carriers of the aldehyde deoxygenase 2 gene variant often experience neurological symptoms such as flushing, nausea and tachycardia after drinking. Therefore, if you have the above symptoms after drinking, you should be vigilant, quit drinking or minimize alcohol intake to prevent the occurrence of liver cancer.

Gene mutation linked to increased risk of liver cancer in alcoholics

Many people with hepatitis B or hepatitis B virus carriers drink alcohol for a long time. Do they all develop liver cancer? If the aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 gene in the HBV carriers who are addicted to alcohol for a long time is mutated, their risk of developing liver cancer will increase 52 times compared with normal people.

The metabolic process of alcohol in the body is mainly ethanol → acetaldehyde → acetic acid, among which acetaldehyde has obvious toxicity and carcinogenicity to animal liver cells. The function of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase 2 in the human body is to oxidize acetaldehyde into acetic acid, which is not carcinogenic, and finally decompose it into carbon dioxide and water that are harmless to the human body and excreted from the body. However, when the normal gene of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase 2 mutates, the enzyme will lose its activity, resulting in a more than 6-fold increase in the acetaldehyde concentration in the human blood after drinking, greatly increasing the risk of liver cell cancer.

The research team conducted a survey in the high-incidence areas of liver cancer in the province and found that among people carrying the acetaldehyde dehydrogenase 2 variant genotype, those who drink more than 3 kilograms of alcohol per month have a 3.51 times higher risk of liver cancer than those with normal genes and non-drinkers. What should be particularly noted is that if people with the acetaldehyde dehydrogenase variant genotype also carry the hepatitis B virus, and if they drink heavily for a long time, that is, their total alcohol consumption in their lifetime is more than 3 kilograms per year (drinking 1 kilogram of high-proof liquor every day for a year is 1 kilogram per year, and 3 kilograms per year equals 1095 kilograms of high-proof liquor), their risk of liver cancer is 52 times higher than normal people.

Controlling three factors can prevent liver cancer

The occurrence of liver cancer is the result of the superposition of many factors. If ordinary people want to prevent the occurrence of liver cancer, they must control these three factors within their control to stay away from liver cancer.

1. Don’t take medicine randomly to prevent virus infection

The incidence of liver cancer in patients with chronic hepatitis is 100 times higher than that of normal people. The first thing ordinary people need to do to prevent liver cancer is to prevent infection with hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses.

In addition, special attention should be paid to medication safety. Many drugs may cause liver damage and should not be taken indiscriminately, such as antibiotics, painkillers, contraceptives, blood sugar and lipid-lowering drugs, and cold treatment drugs. In addition, many hepatitis B virus infected people take drugs indiscriminately and believe in folk remedies. Some drugs advertised as "liver protection drugs", "immunity enhancement drugs", and "nutritional drugs" are often not what they claim to be, so avoid abuse.

2. Eat less raw seafood

The younger age of liver cancer is closely related to the increasing number of bad lifestyle habits among young people. Experts say that many young people are overnourished, obese, do not eat in the morning, overeat at night, and like to sleep in, which are all risk factors.

For modern people, simple food is not only a virtue of frugality, but also more importantly, it is healthy. But most young people don’t think so. Many young people eat too luxuriously, drink alcohol and eat meat, and have a curiosity mentality. They eat whatever is fresh, raw seafood, raw fish, and raw meat. However, they don’t know that many seafood may contain various hepatitis viruses due to pollution. Once ingested, it may cause acute hepatitis. This is also one of the reasons why the southeastern coastal area of ​​my country is a high-incidence area for liver cancer.

Although these lifestyle habits will not directly lead to liver cancer, they will increase the risk of liver cancer. Liver cancer is often based on cirrhosis. Alcoholic liver disease caused by drinking, fatty liver hepatitis caused by obesity due to overeating, and liver damage caused by excessive dieting can all directly lead to cirrhosis. Not eating in the morning leads to unbalanced nutrition, staying up late and sleeping in leads to a disorder of the body's biological clock, which will reduce immunity and become a superimposed factor leading to liver cancer.

3. Bad emotions overwhelm the body

Modern people are under increasing pressure in life, but in my country there is currently no large team of psychologists to help people relieve this pressure. If people do not adjust their mentality well, they are prone to illness.

Emotions, work pressure, and especially a negative mentality have a great impact on the immune system, adding fuel to the fire. After learning that they have been infected with the hepatitis B virus, many people are afraid and depressed, lose their appetite all day, and touch their livers with their hands, sometimes for two or three hours, worried that hepatitis will turn into cancer. If this emotion persists for a long time, it will lead to a series of changes in the nervous, endocrine and immune functions, significantly reducing the anti-cancer cells in the blood, and cancer will really occur.

Five ways to prevent liver cancer

One of the ways to prevent liver cancer is to prevent hepatitis.

Using hepatitis vaccines to prevent hepatitis and thus liver cancer has become one of the most promising ways to prevent liver cancer. Not only should children be vaccinated with hepatitis B vaccine when they are born, but adults who have not been vaccinated with hepatitis B vaccine and have not had hepatitis can also be vaccinated with hepatitis B vaccine. However, it is estimated that it will take decades to see the effect. In addition to the injection of hepatitis B vaccine, attention should also be paid to the control of other transmission routes, such as diet, surgery, blood transfusion, injection, acupuncture and hairdressing.

Tumor treatment experts remind that one of the causes of liver cancer is caused by viruses. To prevent hepatitis B virus, we must start with food hygiene and living habits. Wash your hands frequently and separate your meals. It is worth noting that people with hepatitis cannot be chefs.

The second way to prevent liver cancer is to avoid eating moldy or mushy food.

This type of food contains aflatoxin, which is carcinogenic. Eating moldy food can also easily cause liver cancer. There is also rice that does not need to be washed. Cancer treatment experts say that rice that does not need to be washed is not necessarily good. If it encounters high temperatures in a plastic bag, the temperature in the grain is high, and the moisture content is greater than 16%, it will mold. Moldy food must be dried. For example, corn, peanuts, peanut oil, peanut butter, etc. are foods that are prone to mold. These foods must be carefully stored.

The third way to prevent liver cancer is to ensure that drinking water is clean and not polluted.

Drinking water with chemicals can easily cause cancer. Tap water is not necessarily clean. There are water tanks on the roofs of buildings with more than 5 floors. The water tanks should be cleaned by a dedicated person and it is best to perform secondary disinfection. The water tank body should also use chemicals that will not pollute water.

The fourth way to prevent liver cancer is to supplement selenium appropriately.

Scientists call selenium the "king of anti-cancer" among trace elements in the human body. For people with low selenium levels, selenium-rich yeast, selenium polysaccharides, and selenium-rich salts can be used to supplement selenium and increase blood selenium levels.

The fifth way to prevent liver cancer is to reduce the intake of nitrosamines and quit smoking and drinking.

Smoking and drinking are also bad for fatty liver. People think that drinking wine, beer, or a small amount of alcohol can promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis. In fact, this is not true. Alcohol is harmful to the human body. The gastric mucosa in the stomach protects the human body. Alcohol can digest the gastric mucosa, injure the cells of the stomach, and the toxic substances in the food are easily absorbed by the stomach. This can easily cause alcoholic hepatitis, reduce the immune function of the liver and the whole body, and damage the detoxification function of the liver. This is why people who drink have poor detoxification function and are prone to alcoholic cirrhosis, and some cirrhosis will turn into liver cancer.