Not alcohol, this is the killer that causes liver cancer silently

Liver cancer is a dangerous cancer, and patients come to the hospital when it is at a later stage, so the number of cases and deaths from liver cancer is still the leading among cancers.

Liver cancer is the most common cancer in the world, according to GOLOBOCAN World Cancer Organization in 2018, 841,080 cases of liver cancer worldwide and accounted for 4.7% of cancers The disease also caused 781,631 deaths with 8.2%. In Vietnam alone, liver cancer has become the leading cancer with 25,335 cases and accounted for 15.4% of the 2018 cancer cases in our country.

Aflatoxin toxin opens liver cancer cells.

Liver cancer is a dangerous cancer because it is detected at a later, even very late stage. There are patients who find that when the stage of the disease is already at the stage of metastases, there is no intervention for treatment.

Prof. Nguyen Xuan Thanh - Director of Thu Cuc General Hospital, liver cancer in Vietnam is the highest among liver cancers because Vietnam is one of the countries with high incidence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C.

Currently, the hepatitis B infection rate in our country is the highest, second in the region, with about 15% of the population infected with hepatitis B.

The prevalence of hepatitis C accounts for about 2%. An estimated Vietnamese population of 100 million has about 15 million people infected with hepatitis b and about 1 million people infected with hepatitis C.

The cause of liver cancer, Thanh said that liver cancer is caused by two factors: viral hepatitis and aflatoxin toxin.

Toxic substances aflatoxin in cereals such as peanuts, soybeans, soy ... abound and our country is located in the humid tropical climate, so cereals are easy to mold, especially peanuts.

The virus is only thought of but aflatoxin can still form tumors so liver cancer and it is increasing. Aflatoxin toxin is a toxin produced by the mold of cereal grains and washed or cooked cannot be destroyed.

Not only agricultural products, foods such as dried shrimp, dried squid, dried fruits ... if processed and stored improperly, it is also easy to develop mold. Even canned food, processed foods are packed, refrigerated, the bacteria can still grow if the expiry date, showing signs of rancidity.

Not only is direct poisoning, but people can still get aflatoxin if they eat aflatoxin-contaminated animal meat, so many people who do not eat mold-fed foods, feed it to their children You are still very tall.

Aflatoxin is a very strong toxin classified by WHO as a natural mixture of mycotoxins (caused by mold) in the list of 116 carcinogens issued in 2015. The studies of Areas with high cancer rates around the world all show that aflatoxin poisoning is a major risk of liver cancer.

When eating cereal containing this toxin, it will enter the liver which will lead to fatty liver, cirrhosis and liver cancer. If a person who is infected with hepatitis B consumes a mold containing Aflatoxin, the risk of cancer will be 60 times higher than that of a person infected only with hepatitis B.

Professor Thanh emphasized that "when ingested, this toxin hits the liver and hits the liver cells directly on cancer cells. The cause of this affatoxin in Vietnam has not been paid attention. Therefore, it is important to remove special grains from moldy peanuts, or use them to make candies, even though they do not feel moldy, but aflatoxin toxin has actually entered the peanuts. ”

As for alcohol agents, it also affects the liver causing cirrhosis and progression to cancer in part not much but if the agents combined, the liver is defeated very quickly.

For hepatitis B virus, according to statistics, in China among people with primary liver cancer, nearly 90% of hepatitis B patients are positive for HBsAg, meaning that liver cancer has closely related to hepatitis B infection.

Professor Thanh said that to test for hepatitis B patients only need a blood test and if they have hepatitis, they must be treated with antiviral drugs prescribed by a doctor.