Eating a bowl of richly flavored hot soup might be a tempting way to deal with cold weather, but doctors yesterday said that doing so could also put one on the fast track to esophageal cancer.
Digestive Endoscopy Society of Taiwan director-general Wang Hsiu-po (王秀伯) said long-term consumption of hot soup is listed as one of the four main risk factors for esophageal cancer, along with smoking, drinking and betel-nut chewing.
“According to the latest incidence statistics for the most common cancers in Taiwanese men, the incidence rate for esophageal cancer increased by 42 percent between 2002 and 2012, more than two times the overall average increase during the same period,” Wang said.
Wang urged middle-aged men with the above habits to pay particular heed to suspicious symptoms, as the average age of death due to esophageal cancer is 58, which means most sufferers are still in their prime working age and may be the sole breadwinner of their families.
Esophageal cancer symptoms include difficulty swallowing and weight loss.
Mackay Memorial Hospital Taitung Branch’s Division of Gastroenterology director Bair Ming-jong (白明忠) said nearly 30 percent of patients with head and neck cancers also develop esophageal cancer, because tobacco, alcohol and betel nuts are shared risk factors.
“These three dangerous substances could cause the esophagus to inflame, while boiling soup or beverages could further impair the damaged food pipe and put it on a path to developing cancer,” Bair said.
Bair said Taitung County has the nation’s highest rate of betel-nut use at 21.1 percent, twice the national average, which could be the reason why many of his patients were diagnosed with esophagus cancer years after they had developed oral cancer and liver cirrhosis.
Only 8.8 percent of esophagus cancer cases are detected in the early stages, Bair said, urging people in the high-risk group to undergo routine screening tests, as they could help increase the cancer survival rate by nearly twofold.
Additional reporting by staff reporter
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS