What factors may cause esophageal cancer?

Perhaps you have also found that the word "esophageal cancer" appears more and more in front of you and in your ears. When it comes to "esophageal cancer", people who have heard of it will ask three soul-searching questions: Nearly 50% of the patients with this cancer in the world are in China? ! When it is discovered, it is already in the middle and late stages? ! Is it all caused by burns? !

In fact, we have ways to discover it earlier or prevent it.

1. What is esophageal cancer?

The esophagus, which connects the throat at the top and the stomach at the bottom, is an irregular tube covered with a layer of "easily injured" mucosa. If the esophagus is frequently and repeatedly subjected to adverse stimulation, it is easy to have some morphological and functional abnormalities, the esophagus becomes hard, the elasticity decreases, and the swallowing function is affected. Over time, it may cause chronic inflammation, ulcers, and eventually lead to cancer.

my country is one of the most common regions for esophageal cancer in the world, with an average of 150,000 deaths each year. There are more males than females, and the age of onset is mostly over 40 years old.

2. What are the symptoms of esophageal cancer?

Obstruction: Difficulty swallowing and difficulty swallowing, which gradually worsens. At first, eating dry and hard food will cause obstruction, and then it will gradually develop into a feeling of obstruction when eating liquid food, and finally even drinking water will cause obvious obstruction.

Foreign body sensation: Even when not eating, you may feel discomfort in your throat as if something is stuck in your throat.

Feeling of stagnation: The process of swallowing food is not smooth, as if something is stuck and you have to exert a lot of effort to swallow it.

Pain: Mild pain in the throat.

3. What factors may cause esophageal cancer?

1. Eating hot food

Eating hot food is one of the main factors that induce esophageal cancer in my country. It is often said that food should be eaten while it is hot. Many people also like to eat spicy hot pot, hot pot, and hot tea above 80 degrees. These operations are like putting hot water into a mineral water bottle. You can imagine what our esophagus is suffering from.

Usually, food over 50℃ will feel hot in the mouth. The highest temperature that the esophagus can tolerate is 60 degrees. Exceeding this temperature will cause damage to the esophageal mucosa. Eating hot food for a long time will repeatedly damage the esophageal mucosa, causing it to enter a long-term self-repair state and cause chronic inflammation.

2. Drinking

Drinking is an internationally recognized carcinogenic factor for esophageal cancer. Long-term alcohol stimulation can directly burn the esophageal mucosa and cause cancer. In addition, alcohol can also promote the entry of carcinogens into cells.

3. Smoking

Tobacco contains 69 carcinogens, and the harm can be imagined. In addition, if you often smoke and drink, the damage to the esophagus is really worse, which may be one of the reasons why men have a higher incidence of the disease.

4. Pickled Food

The nitrates and nitrites in pickled foods may cause gene mutations in the esophageal mucosa and lead to esophageal cancer. Cooking methods such as frying, pan-frying and smoking can also easily convert amine compounds in food into nitrosamines. Nitrosamines are recognized carcinogens, especially closely related to digestive system tumors.

5. Vitamin Lack

Lack of vitamin A, vitamin B2, vitamin C, and insufficient intake of animal protein, fresh vegetables and fruits are common characteristics in areas with a high incidence of esophageal cancer.

6. Genetic susceptibility factors

Esophageal cancer is not a direct hereditary disease, but many cases of esophageal cancer tend to cluster in families. If someone in the family has esophageal cancer, his children are several times more likely to have esophageal cancer than the average person. People in the same family have very similar eating habits, so the family clustering phenomenon is high.