The people of Sri Lanka, who had been suffering from the global Kovid 19 epidemic for about a year, did not remember any other diseases at that time. They see and hear Covid 19 information almost daily.
But now there is something that almost everyone in society is talking about. It’s about the carcinogens in coconut oil. Although there is a large scale smuggling of toxic coconut oil into the country, the true details have not been revealed to date.
Coconut oil is said to contain the carcinogen Aflotoxin. The people of this country had never heard of this. But now it is being asked by the daily media. Sees.
What is this aflotoxin
This is a carcinogen caused by a fungus. Although some carcinogens are destroyed by heat, these carcinogens do not.
By consuming foods that contain such carcinogens, they are deposited in the body’s liver. It can then become chronic and develop into cancer.
These carcinogens (Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasites) are found in soil-growing, decaying vegetation, straw, and grains. They are regularly found on the Internet in staple foods that are improperly stored, such as cassava, chili peppers, cotton seeds, millet, peanuts, rice, sesame seeds, corn, sunflower seeds, sweet corn, nuts, wheat, and various spices. .
Coconut oil is hot
The price of a bottle of coconut oil has risen to close to Rs. 500 due to the incident that heated up the country with the New Year season at hand. That’s because people go looking for good quality coconut oil.
There is a shortage of coconut oil in other areas. Others have an undue fear of eating oily foods. It’s because of the fear of cancer. Their fears are justified. When I see posts about coconut oil on social media these days, I think it is time to go for coconut oil.
How to identify carcinogens in coconut oil?
The public has no ability to identify these carcinogens in the market. But the standards body, consumer raid officers and public health inspectors have the ability to identify the toxicity of these coconut oils.
The public can only buy quality coconut oil.
More focus on cancer
With the coconut oil incident, there has been a lot of interest and talk about cancer in the country. If we can make good use of that conversation, we can save many lives. In the past, cancer was considered a deadly disease. But with the advancement of medicine today, many cancers can be cured if detected early.
38 lives are lost every day
According to the National Cancer Control Program, 38 cancer patients die every day and 80 new cases are reported. Accordingly, the number of deaths due to cancer in Sri Lanka is 14,013 per year.
Women are the most affected by this disease. By 2015, 15,046 women were diagnosed with cancer, of which 3,592 were breast cancers. 1959 thyroid cancer. There are 1128 cancers of the upper extremities and rectum and 1008 cancers of the cervix. 975 ovarian cancers. Cancer is one of the most common cancers in women.
Oral cancer is more common in men. That’s 2201. Second, they have the highest incidence of lung cancer at 1,160. 1063 cancers of the upper extremities and rectum and 1032 cancers of the esophagus have been identified. In 2015, 13,921 men were diagnosed with cancer.
As of 2015, 28,967 cancer patients have been reported. Of these, 13,921 are males and 15,046 are females. This is an increase from year to year and not a decrease. Thirty years back from 2015, in 1985, we reported 5012 cancer patients. It had risen to 6063 by 1990 and 7325 in 1995.
By the year 2000, that number had risen sharply to 10,925. 13,372 in 2005 and 16,963 in 2010.
By 2014, 13514 {7459 (Male), 6055 (Female) සිදුවන deaths due to cancer have been reported. This was up from 4375 in 2001, but the death toll has risen year on year.
Prevalence of cancer
According to the Ministry of Health, the highest number of cancer patients are found in Jaffna (Tellippalai), Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Kurunegala, Kandy, Badulla, Ratnapura, Colombo (Maharagama) and Galle (Karapitiya). As a result, major cancer hospitals have been established in these districts.
In addition, cancer clinics have been set up in Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Polonnaruwa, Chilaw, Gampaha, Ragama, Kegalle, Ampara, Moneragala, Hambantota, Matara, Kalutara, Malabe and Avissawella hospitals.
According to the National Cancer Control Program, the main causes of these cancers are alcohol, smoking, unhealthy eating habits, eating disorders, high fat, sugar, salt intake, consumption of various flavored foods, and good health habits. Etc.
And as mentioned earlier, not everyone who develops this cancer dies. Early detection of the disease has the potential to cure it 100%. The National Cancer Control Program shows that more than 10,000 women with breast cancer have been cured so far. Therefore, women are advised to go to beauty clinics and get tested for the disease in advance.
Providing information –
Dr. Suraj Perera, Community Physician, National Cancer Control Program, Ministry of Health