Garnachas and snacks induce cancer: UNAM

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mx What we eat is the leading cause of cancer risk, above tobacco consumption and infections, warned Magda Carvajal Moreno, a researcher at the Institute of Biology (IB) of the 39, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), which for several years has conducted studies on aflatoxins, carcinogens that we eat daily in food

The specialist explained that aflatoxins are secondary metabolites of the fungus Aspergillus flavus, which is found in various foods such as corn, rice, peanuts, nuts, pistachios, peppers, eggs , milk and sausages.

Aflatoxins are produced and consumed with contaminated food, accumulate for years in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and generate various harmful effects, such as cancer and mutations

At a conference on the subject, at the Permanent Seminar on Agriculture, Food and Nutrition (SPAA) of the University Food Program (Pual), Carvajal Moreno said that this that we eat is the main cause of 36% of probabilities, even before smoking, which represents 31% and has been warned of its harmful effects on health time and again, while infections occupy only third place, with 11%

In a previous study, the researcher found that among liver tumor cases, 65% had aflatoxins; colon, 54%; rectum, 57%; pancreas, 46%; breast, 40%, and uterine cervix, 60%: "In this last there are 6

1% more risk of development [cáncer] if the adducts to aflatoxin-DNA are present, "he said.

Mexican and carcinogenic

According to sources mentioned by the researcher, one of the main ingredients of Mexican food is among foods contaminated with aflatoxins: corn

He warned that, for example, tortillas and their processed by-products such as potato chips, sopes and tamales, quesadillas, among other typical Mexican dishes, are heavily contaminated, as a recent study that it has grown in Mexico, 95% of white corn and 60% of yellow corn contain these metabolites

He warned that aflatoxins generated by the mold of Aspergillus flavus, which easily breed in poorly stored grains, "are not seen, have no taste or smell, are resistant to heat and processes such as cooking, ultrapasteurisation, nixtamalisation and fermentation "

In addition, they are insoluble in water and in organic solvents such as methanol, ethanol, benzene and chloroform.

Carvajal Moreno explained that these metabolites are associated with cancer of the liver, pancreas, lung, colon and cervix of the uterus: "Although they act in millionth of a milligram, they are the most potent biological carcinogens known

We are all born with latent proto-oncogenes, and aflatoxins, by a chemical mechanism of oxidation, transform them into oncogenes [cancerígenos] that accumulate for years in the DNA and mutate, mainly in individuals with a genetic predisposition, "comments

In the first phase, aflatoxins are still removed by the body through the urine, but the danger increases when they are ingested daily

For example, if a person consumes contaminated food for 40 years, the substance is gradually fixed in the DNA, which damages it

The specialist commented that there was an error in the repair, replication and integration, so once the gene mutates the process is irreversible and that is when the cancerous process begins, after, the cell is transformed and the tumor comes primary malignancy, in which the doctors must already intervene to counteract it with a treatment, which may include radiation and operations

There is a way to counteract their damage to the fungus, and for that recommend to eat probiotic foods, such as blackberries, green and red peppers, spinach, broccoli, beets, cherries, green beans, tomatoes and carrots

Concluded that it is difficult to change eating habits, but it is possible to provide healthy products with adequate storage, in a dry and cold place