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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

#91

Post by DoreenMichele »

Very glad to see some people trying to do some research on this population cohort of Asian American women who never smoked.

It would help if we had a clearer idea of what cancer is. Some cancers are known to be caused by viruses. Maybe someday they will have clearer distinctions between viral cancers and other cancers and that will help solve mysteries like this one.

I'm frankly surprised by this. The only thing I had ever heard of was the Japanese smoking paradox where Japanese people smoke at higher rates and have lower rates of lung cancer. How or if that relates to this, I don't know.

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

#92

Post by titanomachy »

QuercusMax wrote: post #89
jejeyyy77 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

east asians don't use mustard oil

They use caiziyou, AKA roasted rapeseed oil, which has a high level of erucic acid, similar to mustard oil. (Rapeseed is a member of the mustard family. Canola is low-erucic acid rapeseed oil.)

Canola: CANadian Oil Low Acid

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

#93

Post by plufz »

lambdaba wrote: post #59
idiotsecant wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am equally confused. I think there is a dumb but somewhat worrying trend of people's political identity becoming so pervasive that it absorbs secondary and tertiary opinions about completely unrelated things.

Yes, a large segment of conservatives have taken the place that previously left-wing hippies occupied wrt skepticism of mainstream health advice, and seed oils is a major subject, I would say even iconic, with places like Reddit vehemently disagreeing and calling it anti-science or whatever. I agree that it's unfortunate, but currently this previously left-wing impulse to favor "natural", "unprocessed" products is pr…

Yeah this is a really weird shift that has happened in a relatively short time. In Sweden we have strange groups of nazis and hippies that you wouldn’t have thought would happen in a million years when I was a kid in the 80s/90s.

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

#94

Post by kevinmchugh »

bsza wrote: post #86
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…

It probably also doesn’t help that some cooking techniques, like wok hei, involve heating the oil past its burning point.

Wok hei isn't a home cook technique

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

#95

Post by RockCoach »

QuercusMax wrote: post #89
jejeyyy77 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

east asians don't use mustard oil

They use caiziyou, AKA roasted rapeseed oil, which has a high level of erucic acid, similar to mustard oil. (Rapeseed is a member of the mustard family. Canola is low-erucic acid rapeseed oil.)

Rapeseed oil for cooking is a staple in Germany. If erucic acid or its thermal products are the cause, there would also be many cases of lung cancer in Germany.

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

#96

Post by why_at »

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…

While this is definitely a possible explanation, I would hesitate to jump to any particular conclusions until further research is done on specific risk factors. The article also mentions air pollution as a possible cause:

>For example, a 2019 study found that Asian Americans breathe in 73% more tiny pollution particles than white Americans, most likely because of greater exposure to construction, industry and vehicle emissions where they live.

As you mention, there is some preliminary research which suggests cooking oil smoke could be related, but this is far from enough to definitively point towards it as the root cause, or even enough to justify your hunch I would argue. Also keep in mind there could be multiple causes of which cooking oil is just one part.

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

#97

Post by hackeraccount »

jejeyyy77 wrote: post #26
rafram wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If you smoke, your chances of getting cancer are only 3 in 10!" is not actually very comforting.

20% of lung cancer cases in the US are people who have never smoked.

Poor Stephen Jay Gould. :-(

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

#98

Post by UweSchmidt »

mschuster91 wrote: post #50
Pepe1vo wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Traditional old Asian men are possibly the worst humans ever. That's, uh, quite a strong statement. What makes them worse than all the other humans?

I'm assuming they are referring to "traditional old Asian culture" aka the combination of old patriarchal/sexist beliefs, a toxic workplace/exploitation culture, society-over-individual attitudes, and that topped up with a healthy dose of racism to xenophobia (depending on the country). I mean, some of this is rich to talk about given I'm European and most Western countries share a lot of these traits, but from what…

A shallow and superficial comment in a subthread that took the wrong turn. Casually applying nasty labels in an act of self-loathing from a fellow German. Oh no, our toxic workplaces, truly funny. Our beloved individualism that has little regard for society as a whole left, consequences of that showing up more and more, how dare the old asian guy hold on to the old ways. "Xenophobia" in the face of mass immigration that is handled terribly etc.

Actually take your criteria and apply them fairly to some of the other cultures around the world. And let the old guy smoke (outside). He is not the worst human ever, that's for sure.

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

#99

Post by peteradio »

WirelessGigabit wrote: post #77
peteradio wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gas ranges aren't the only range that needs to be vented, all need it.

I was surprised about this when I moved to the USA. We cooked on electricity in Belgium, and there was a range hood. Then you come here and you start to look at apartments and there is no hood at all. Weird. Or you see a microwave with a vent that vents inside. Makes you wonder whether a mandatory range hood that vents outside is better than a gas range ban...

Yes, and having installed one myself, its no picnic so I can understand why there would be a pushback against that and instead scapegoating the gas range. But really its insane how much crap gets into the air when you cook anything indoors on any type of range.

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

#100

Post by astrange »

kevinmchugh wrote: post #94
bsza wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It probably also doesn’t help that some cooking techniques, like wok hei, involve heating the oil past its burning point.

Wok hei isn't a home cook technique

It can be, but you have to mod your stove, and you're supposed to move it outside first.
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