What are the causes of liver cancer? 4 high-risk factors for liver cancer

Through field investigations in areas with a high incidence of liver cancer, epidemiologists have discovered the etiological factors associated with liver cancer. These factors include:

1. Hepatitis virus: From a global perspective, countries with high incidence of liver cancer mainly include the Far East (China, Japan), Southeast Asia, and southern Africa, which are also high-incidence areas of hepatitis. If a long-term follow-up study is conducted on people with hepatitis and those without hepatitis, it will be found that the risk of liver cancer in people with hepatitis is much higher than that in people without hepatitis. On the contrary, people without hepatitis have a very low risk of liver cancer. Li Zhimin, Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Vascular Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University

2. Aflatoxin: The high-incidence areas in my country are mainly concentrated in the southeastern coastal areas, where the climate is humid and rainy, which is easy to breed aflatoxin, and the aflatoxin pollution in grain products is also serious. Analyzing aflatoxin adducts (a form of aflatoxin in the body) from human urine samples, it was found that people with adducts have a significantly higher risk of liver cancer than those without adducts.

3. Drinking water pollution: In the past, people in some rural areas in southern my country had the habit of drinking ditch and pond water. When comparing the risk of liver cancer among people who drank ditch and pond water, river water, and deep well water, it was found that those who drank ditch and pond water had the highest risk, while those who drank deep well water had the lowest risk. Further research found that the cyanobacterial toxins produced by blue-green algae growing in ditch and pond water can cause liver cell necrosis and is a cancer-promoting factor.

4. Others: Drinking alcohol will aggravate liver damage for hepatitis patients. For hepatitis patients, drinking alcohol is a cancer-promoting factor.