Will long-term use of stainless steel products cause cancer?
Stainless steel products have already entered thousands of households and account for "half of" many household kitchen supplies, such as chopsticks for picking up vegetables, plates for serving food, cups for drinking water, cooking pots, tables for washing dishes and cutting vegetables, etc.
Stainless steel products were invented in the 1910s. They are essentially a special alloy material. The full name is "stainless acid-resistant steel." It is not as easy to rust as iron products and ordinary steel, but it can also withstand acid, alkali, salt and other corrosion. It has been around since Around 2001, a large number of them entered home kitchens, especially in the south. They are the "standard equipment" in kitchens in Guangdong and Guangxi regions.
Stainless steel products are liked by many people, thanks to five major advantages: bright color, just the right weight, and a sense of high-end; not easy to rust, not afraid of bumps and breaks; easy to clean, rarely appear mold and bacteria; durable It can withstand high temperatures and is suitable for Chinese cooking; it is cheap, durable and easy to promote.
However, the scope of use of stainless steel tableware and daily necessities is expanding day by day, and some substandard and shoddy products are also mixed in the market, which have greater health risks. Since 2019, my country's CCTV has focused on the news that "stainless steel thermos cups" and "stainless steel electric kettles" may cause cancer, which has attracted widespread attention.
From the perspective of the oncology industry, at the end of 2022, the world's authoritative medical journal "The Lancet" published the "Global Burden of Cancer Attributable to Risk Factors 2010-2019" research report, which assessed the global situation of new cancers and pointed out that "more than half are "Caused by living and eating habits, as well as long-term use of inferior daily necessities", the hazards of high-frequency carcinogens: nickel, chromium, cadmium, and lead are highlighted.
Nickel, chromium and other elements are the "main ingredients" of stainless steel. In my country, according to GB9684-2011 "Stainless Steel Products", nickel, chromium, cadmium, lead, and arsenic are the five key physical and chemical indicators for testing.
Nickel in stainless steel is a trace element required by the human body. The normal content is 10mg. Exceeding the standard can cause skin allergies and inflammation. Long-term excessive intake can cause respiratory system cancer and organ failure.
Chromium in stainless steel is a trace element needed by the human body. The normal content does not exceed 7 mg. Long-term excess can cause skin lesions, digestive system abnormalities, respiratory system decline, and induce genetic cancer.
Cadmium, lead, arsenic and other ingredients in inferior stainless steel products are not needed by the human body. Cadmium is an environmental pollutant, a food pollutant highlighted by the WHO, and a strong carcinogen. Lead is a toxic component and a notorious fetal teratogen, which is extremely harmful to the human body's cardiovascular and cerebrovascular, endocrine operations, and nervous systems. Arsenic easily accumulates in the liver, kidneys, muscles, hair, bones and other parts of the human body. It can damage normal cells and induce cancer.
It is worth noting that according to statistics from the National Cancer Center, the cancer diagnosis rate among Chinese residents has increased year by year from the beginning of 2000 to the present. As of 2020, there were 4.57 million new cancer cases, and the number of diagnosed cancer types ranks first in the world.
The incidence of cancer is gradually increasing, and the timelines basically overlap with the extensive use of stainless steel tableware and daily necessities. Is there an inevitable connection between them?
The secret of why stainless steel is "rustless", "corrosion resistant" and "high temperature resistant" is that trace elements such as nickel and chromium are mixed into iron to form an alloy material. When the chromium content reaches more than 12%, an alloy surface forms. It has a dense oxide film and has a certain self-healing ability, so the "background" of stainless steel is always shiny. If nickel is added, it will be more resistant to acid, alkali and salt corrosion, easier to process and more durable.
Many people call stainless steel tableware and supplies at home "304" because they are stamped with the words "304" and "SUS304". In fact, "304" is an American standard, and "SUS304" is a Japanese standard. Twenty or thirty years ago, many people had a "feeling of admiration" for American and Japanese products, so domestic businesses printed American and Japanese standards and spread them. Come on.
Note that there is no mandatory requirement in our country whether to stamp 304 or SUS304. In other words, a steel stamp does not necessarily mean that it is a qualified product, and a lack of steel stamp does not mean that it is an inferior product. Instead, it depends on the factory national standard implementation standard report of stainless steel products.
What are the standards? The material of 304 is called "06Cr19Ni10", and the higher-end 316 material is called "0Cr17Ni12Mo2", which directly indicates the chemical elements and component ratios contained. Regardless of "304" or "316" stainless steel, they are all austenitic stainless steel. 316 material is better than 304 material and has higher cost. It is widely used in kitchen and bathroom appliances, food industry, surgical instruments, etc.
Some people have noticed that besides "austenitic stainless steel", are there other stainless steel materials? Yes, there are ferritic stainless steel, martensitic stainless steel, etc. Even austenitic stainless steel has 201, 202 and other series products.
Anything that does not meet the mandatory standard GB4806-2016 is not made of food-grade stainless steel. If it is used, it is an inferior stainless steel product.
Inferior stainless steel is prone to precipitating excessive amounts of heavy metal elements, that is, nickel, cadmium, chromium, lead, etc., escaping out, which will soon cause the body's heavy metal content to exceed the standard, and long-term use will be very harmful.
In which places are stainless steel kitchenware and tableware the "hardest hit areas" for inferior products? They are usually products from small brands purchased online or from temporary roadside stalls. Their common feature is that they are very cheap. You get what you pay for in food-grade stainless steel. Qualified products are heavy to carry and the cost cannot be lowered if you are willing to put in the effort to develop them. However, inferior products are so shiny after polishing that they cannot be seen even with sharp eyes, and they feel lighter to the touch.
But can qualified stainless steel tableware and daily necessities be used casually? Not really. Be careful not to store acid, alkali, salt, vinegar, soy sauce and other liquids for a long time, for example, for three to five days at a time, because they will help heavy metals escape and be eaten into the stomach. It is also not possible to cook Chinese medicinal materials. This is a "lose-lose" result. The Chinese medicinal materials may fail and excessive heavy metals will precipitate out of stainless steel. Do not use empty stoves or induction cookers, and do not use strong alkali for cleaning, as heavy metals may easily precipitate.
Under normal circumstances, qualified stainless steel tableware, kitchen utensils and daily necessities can be used with confidence and will not cause cancer if you pay attention to the conditions of use and avoid taboos.
Then, there are 5 real high-risk factors that cause cancer in life. They are the comprehensive results of long-term accumulation, laissez-faire, and disapproval, including:
- From a behavioral perspective, there are four aspects: smoking, alcohol abuse, lack of physical activity, and staying up late.
- From a metabolic perspective, there are three aspects: excessive obesity, poor diabetes control and complications, and misuse of drugs.
- From the perspective of diet, there are insufficient intake of fruits and vegetables, low dietary fiber, eating a lot of red meat and processed meat, and frequently eating barbecue, fried and pickled products, etc.
- From an environmental perspective, there are three aspects: excessive working environment radiation or chemical products, long-term inhalation of haze, and long-term ultraviolet exposure.
- From the physical point of view, there are viral or parasitic infections, which are more common in hepatitis virus, Helicobacter pylori, immunodeficiency virus, HPV virus, Epstein-Barr virus, liver fluke, etc.
Therefore, to prevent cancer, we must pay attention to and develop good living and eating habits, and adhere to them correctly for a long time. When using stainless steel kitchenware daily, we must also pay attention to methods and methods to ensure health.