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Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking

nbcnews.com

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Re: Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking

#11

Post by eBombzor »

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #3

12% of Asian American men smoke compared with 2.6% of women. So non smoking Asian women are more likely to live with a smoking man. Could second hand smoking exposure be a factor in this? https://www.lung.org/quit-smoking/smoking-facts/impact-of-to...

Anecdotal but can confirm that my Asian dad smokes a pack a day, with the window open, and it pretty much permeates the apartment, and we've all had issues with lung health. There's no doubt in my mind this is a huge factor.

Sidenote but I haven't missed my father since I left home. Traditional old Asian men are possibly the worst humans ever.

Re: Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking

#12

Post by lambdaba »

enhancer wrote: post #10
lambdaba wrote: post #5

Wasn't there something about some seed oil fumes being toxic? Maybe it's related to some cooking practices. Highly speculative but the cooking oil toxicity is well-known. [edit] found this with a quick search, seems relevant: Exposure to Cooking Oil Fumes and Oxidative Damages: A Longitudinal Study in Chinese Military Cooks https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4029104/ [edit 2] and indeed the article mentions…

What type of cooking oil does that?

Seed oils mainly, a factor of the lower smoke point. The only suitable plant oils in this regard are olive and coconut oil - which are fruit oils.

[edit] seed oils r bad skeptics can just double check - the top 3 highest smoke point oils are all fruit oils, with seed oils at a distance - with the exception of peanut oil, which is closer.

The smoke point is also not the only relevant factor, the fatty acid makeup is also important, high omega-6 oils are more likely to oxidize, coconut oil for instance is high in saturated fat, olive oil is mainly monounsaturated.

Re: Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking

#13

Post by nneonneo »

max_ wrote: post #4
helsinkiandrew wrote: post #3

12% of Asian American men smoke compared with 2.6% of women. So non smoking Asian women are more likely to live with a smoking man. Could second hand smoking exposure be a factor in this? https://www.lung.org/quit-smoking/smoking-facts/impact-of-to...

There are Many things that cause lung cancer other than smoking. Infact majority of people that smoke don't get Cancer (only about 30% in a group of smokers get lung cancer) Edit: I don't mean it's comforting I prefer to have it at 0/10 I am just trying to say that things that cause cancer are not as deterministic as we think.

I mean, it’s not going to be 0/10 because smoking causes cancer.

Cancer itself isn’t deterministic. This isn’t news. There is virtually nothing that is 100% guaranteed to produce cancer, but there are things that massively increase risk. Tobacco is one of them.

An estimated 72% of lung cancers in Canada are caused by tobacco (https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-conce...) Smokers are 25x more likely to die of lung cancer as nonsmokers. The US CDC estimates that smoking is linked to 80-90% of lung cancer deaths (https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/lung/basic_info/risk_factors.htm).

Saying “tobacco causes lung cancer” isn’t guaranteeing that smoking leads to lung cancer, but it sure as hell is the leading cause.

Re: Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking

#14

Post by da_chicken »

max_ wrote: post #4
helsinkiandrew wrote: post #3

12% of Asian American men smoke compared with 2.6% of women. So non smoking Asian women are more likely to live with a smoking man. Could second hand smoking exposure be a factor in this? https://www.lung.org/quit-smoking/smoking-facts/impact-of-to...

There are Many things that cause lung cancer other than smoking. Infact majority of people that smoke don't get Cancer (only about 30% in a group of smokers get lung cancer) Edit: I don't mean it's comforting I prefer to have it at 0/10 I am just trying to say that things that cause cancer are not as deterministic as we think.

Yes, but as far as risk factors for lung cancer, second-hand smoking is one of the better known.

I don't immediately see Asian American women being exposed to additional regional air pollution, asbestos, coal soot, or radon more than others.

There could be a race-linked genetic factor, but I'm not aware of Asian women that are non-American having a higher rate. So I don't see why it would be something like... aspirated cooking oils fumes or natural gas fumes while cooking. Do Asian American households have a significantly higher likelihood of natural gas stoves? Do they have cultural histories of certain kinds of make-up or body treatments like talc?

Re: Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking

#15

Post by somethoughts »

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #3

12% of Asian American men smoke compared with 2.6% of women. So non smoking Asian women are more likely to live with a smoking man. Could second hand smoking exposure be a factor in this? https://www.lung.org/quit-smoking/smoking-facts/impact-of-to...

Not sure about the validity of the source but it does suggest that second hand smoke could be related.

"What’s behind this rise in lung cancer in women who have never smoked compared with men, and particularly in Asian American women? One possibility: While Chinese American women may never smoke themselves, they frequently live with partners or family members who do. (About 28% of Chinese American men smoke heavily, Dr. Li said.) “We think secondhand smoke might be one of the key risk factors, because they’re living with people who smoke,” Dr. Li said." [1]

[1] https://www.chestnet.org/newsroom/blog/2024/03/secondhand-sm...

I could see a possible scenario where a first generation (i.e. immigrant, English as a second language) Asian father/husband smoking at home in the 1990-2010 timeframe and not getting the second hand smoking messages/ads (that were primarily in English as quickly) as the rest of Americans and it's is just now that the statistics are showing up.

Re: Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking

#16

Post by ahepp »

A graph in the article is captioned:

> A study of nearly 4,000 non-smoking women found that the share of Asian American women who developed lung cancer was more than twice that of white women.

And then proceeds to list "53.4%" for Asian.

Are we to believe that in a sample of "nearly 4,000 non-smoking women", over half of the Asian American women developed lung cancer?

Elsewhere in the article it is said that

> Among Asian American women who have lung cancer, more than 50% have never smoked"

Those seem like completely different things to me...

Re: Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking

#17

Post by darth_avocado »

lambdaba wrote: post #12
enhancer wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What type of cooking oil does that?

Seed oils mainly, a factor of the lower smoke point. The only suitable plant oils in this regard are olive and coconut oil - which are fruit oils. [edit] seed oils r bad skeptics can just double check - the top 3 highest smoke point oils are all fruit oils, with seed oils at a distance - with the exception of peanut oil, which is closer. The smoke point is also not the only relevant factor, the fatty acid makeup is a…

Most seed oils have a higher smoking point, as compared to olive oil.

Re: Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking

#18

Post by enhancer »

lambdaba wrote: post #12
enhancer wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What type of cooking oil does that?

Seed oils mainly, a factor of the lower smoke point. The only suitable plant oils in this regard are olive and coconut oil - which are fruit oils. [edit] seed oils r bad skeptics can just double check - the top 3 highest smoke point oils are all fruit oils, with seed oils at a distance - with the exception of peanut oil, which is closer. The smoke point is also not the only relevant factor, the fatty acid makeup is a…

Damn so sesame oil or soybean oil? Those are essential is asian cuisine

Re: Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking

#19

Post by Earw0rm »

lambdaba wrote: post #12
enhancer wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What type of cooking oil does that?

Seed oils mainly, a factor of the lower smoke point. The only suitable plant oils in this regard are olive and coconut oil - which are fruit oils. [edit] seed oils r bad skeptics can just double check - the top 3 highest smoke point oils are all fruit oils, with seed oils at a distance - with the exception of peanut oil, which is closer. The smoke point is also not the only relevant factor, the fatty acid makeup is a…

Sunflower and groundnut oil is higher smoke point than olive.

Re: Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking

#20

Post by Earw0rm »

lambdaba wrote: post #12
enhancer wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What type of cooking oil does that?

Seed oils mainly, a factor of the lower smoke point. The only suitable plant oils in this regard are olive and coconut oil - which are fruit oils. [edit] seed oils r bad skeptics can just double check - the top 3 highest smoke point oils are all fruit oils, with seed oils at a distance - with the exception of peanut oil, which is closer. The smoke point is also not the only relevant factor, the fatty acid makeup is a…

enhancer - sesame oil is more used as a dressing/seasoning AIUI rather than a frying oil.
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