Bread is considered carcinogenic only because it is a kind of fine grain product. This conclusion is too arbitrary to stand up to argument.
"A 14-year-old girl often eats bread for breakfast and has bowel cancer. There's another kid who's got kidney cancer because he's been eating bread for a long time. Recently, an article forwarded by the official Wechat of " China Science Communication", the earliest national popular science platform in China, has aroused doubts among netizens. This article borrows the doctor's excuse to think that children often eat bread for breakfast, and excessive intake of fine grains can lead to colon and kidney cancer. After the controversy, " China Science Communication " deleted the article.
Bread is considered carcinogenic only because it is a fine grain. This conclusion is too arbitrary to stand up to argument.
At present, most of the so-called carcinogenic foods have no scientific basis, such as claims that instant noodles and soybean milk are carcinogenic. There are also a few controversial issues, such as whether overnight leftovers cause cancer, which is still being discussed in the academic community. But in any case, the theory of bread carcinogenesis is unreliable.
Although people always say that people eat grains and cereals, no illnesses is impossible, the causes of illness are varied, and it is the combined force and product of many factors. Cancer is a serious chronic disease, not a single factor can cause cancer, even if there are many carcinogenic factors working together, the formation of cancer is not overnight. Food is, of course, one of the causes of various diseases, including cancer, but it is only one of them. Besides, there is a problem of accumulation and dosage.
The International Agency for Cancer (IARC) under the World Health Organization (WHO) has overclassified carcinogens. Since 1971, IARC has assessed more than 900 factors and substances, of which more than 400 have been identified as carcinogenic or potential carcinogenic factors, including radiation, chemicals, mixtures, physical and biological factors, life behavior and viruses. According to the degree of carcinogenesis, IARC classifies carcinogenic factors into five categories and four grades: carcinogenic, possible carcinogenic, unknown and possible non-carcinogenic.
There are 111 species listed in the first grade. There is sufficient evidence and animal test results to prove that they are carcinogenic, including radioactive substances, asbestos, benzene, aflatoxin and so on. There are many factors that have sufficient experimental data for animal carcinogenesis, but the experimental evidence for human carcinogenesis is insufficient. As for caffeine, which is often said to be in the third level, it is still uncertain whether it is carcinogenic to humans.
Many foods, such as corn, peanuts, peanut oil, nuts, dried fruits and tea, contain aflatoxins, which are clearly carcinogenic to humans and animals. However, WHO has defined the maximum allowable concentration of aflatoxin in food as 15 micrograms/kg. The Chinese standard is 20 micrograms/kg for corn, peanuts, peanut oil, nuts and dried fruits, and 10 micrograms/kg for rice and edible oil. It is almost impossible for people to eat rice and other foods containing such high doses of aflatoxin. What's more, it's not that eating aflatoxin-containing foods several times can cause cancer, it's also dose-dependent.
The biggest shortcoming of bread is that it is made of fine flour. This can destroy some vitamins in the production process, such as vitamin A, vitamin B and vitamin C. If you eat delicate food for a long time, it will cause nutritional imbalance, and may produce some minor diseases, such as glossitis, dry skin and so on.
Even if eating fine grains can cause nutritional imbalances, the key point is dose. Even eating bread every morning is only one third of the three meals, and the child's diet in addition to more than one meal a day, there are many snacks, enough to make up for the nutritional deviation of eating bread only for breakfast. Not to mention, breakfast bread is not necessarily fine grain, but also made from whole wheat flour. In reality, no family will let their children eat bread every morning. If they eat too much, they will be tired. The children will always ask their mothers to change their tastes.
Eating bread to cause cancer is pure nonsense. And those so-called popular science writings that show the face of science popularization should not be so "popular" pseudoscience, selling health care anxiety.
