Warning: Moldy rice contains extremely toxic substances that cause liver cancer

People's food hoarding habits and the tropical weather in our country, many foods such as peanuts and moldy rice are susceptible to mold, which can cause cancer.

Surprised to have cancer

At Hanoi K Hospital, signs warning of cancer risk factors all include a note to avoid eating moldy, spoiled foods. This is not redundant because many patients, when consulted by doctors, are surprised to have eaten moldy peanuts and rice many times without knowing it.

Warning: Moldy rice contains extremely toxic substances that cause liver cancer.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan, 57 years old, residing in Hai Duong, came to consult at the Vietnam Cancer Association in a state of fatigue due to liver cancer.

Mrs. Lan said that two months ago she felt tired, had a stomachache, lost weight, and had yellow skin. But she was busy so she did not go for a health check. When the pain became unbearable and her urine turned dark, she went to see a doctor. At the provincial hospital, the doctor did a CT scan of her abdomen and found stains on her liver, so she suspected a liver tumor.

Mrs. Lan was taken to the Central Cancer Hospital by her son for a re-examination. The diagnosis was liver cancer. Immediately after that, she was given a treatment plan for embolization and chemotherapy. What surprised Mrs. Lan was that the disease surprised her because she was very careful, ate cooked food and boiled water but still got sick.

When the doctors analyzed the cause of cancer, Ms. Lan insisted that she did not drink alcohol, did not smoke, that no one in the house smoked, and did not have hepatitis B or fatty liver. It was only when the doctor consulted about food that Ms. Lan suspected that her daily food intake might have gradually caused her cancer.

Mrs. Lan said her family grows peanuts and eats them all year round. When the peanuts are oily and get moldy, she washes them off and dries them. Partly because she thinks it won’t affect her since she has washed the moldy peanuts so they can still be eaten, and partly because she doesn’t want to throw them away.

Looking at her family's habits, Mrs. Lan was startled. She did not dare throw away moldy rice, but washed it clean and cooked it. Because the house was damp, the rice was stored in a plastic container. Each time she milled rice, she milled 30 kg of rice. There were only 3 people in the family, and her two children ate dinner, so it took two months to finish the bag of rice. There were times when the rice was moldy at the end of the container, but she dried it or washed it clean and cooked it. She did not think that could be a risk factor for her cancer.

Dangerous toxic mold

Dr. Dang The Can - former Deputy Director of the Central Cancer Hospital, said that many patients who came for consultation did not know why they had cancer. Most of them were worried and thought they were being punished. However, eating and drinking have a great influence on cancer, especially liver cancer. Dr. Can said that mold in food such as peanuts, corn, rice, and noodles is very dangerous because this mold produces the toxin aflatoxin, which is a factor that causes liver cancer.

According to Dr. Can, a series of studies have shown that the incidence of primary liver cancer increases in areas with high exposure to aflatoxin, but the mechanism of action of aflatoxin causing liver cancer in humans is still unclear, but people have found the binding of aflatoxin B1 to the DNA of liver cells in patients with primary liver cancer.

This complex is also found in peripheral blood, placental blood and umbilical cord blood of pregnant women exposed to aflatoxin B1. Ingestion of a total of 2.5 mg of aflatoxin over 3 months can lead to fatal liver cancer.

Doctor Can said that when food is moldy, even if it has been cooked at high temperatures, it is still very dangerous because aflatoxin is a fairly stable toxin, so when we wash it and put it in a normal boiling pot, it has no effect on the toxin. To prevent toxins from fungi, people should not eat moldy foods, especially grains.

On the other hand, doctors also warn that many types of bottled fish sauce in our country may also contain this toxin because the input materials have been infected with fungus without their noticing./.

According to VOV.VN