Chopsticks mold: Assassin causes cancer

Chopsticks are a common item in every family but few people know how to preserve them. If bacteria are hidden, they will cause diarrhea, infections, and even cancer.

Doctor Huynh Lien Doan, Ho Chi Minh City Medical Association, said after 3-6 months of use, chopsticks will change in color with a darker or lighter color. If the time is over, the chopsticks will become the place where the fungus bacteria cause disease.

People should replace it after 4 months of use to avoid mold.

Many people do not have the habit of drying their chopsticks. After washing, they store when the chopsticks are still wet.

In a humid environment, wood-based chopsticks become a growing place for aspergillus flavus - one of the fungi that contains carcinogenic toxins.

More seriously, according to the World Health Organization, mold chopsticks also produce aflatoxin which is a cancer-causing toxin with 68 times more toxic than arsenic, 10 times more potent than cyanide and destructive to cells. liver.

Just absorbing more than 1 mg of aflatoxin is a risk factor for severe liver cancer. The team doctor, for example, who weighs about 70 kg, if absorbed more than 20 mg of aflatoxin, can lead to death.

For wood chopsticks, doctors recommend that people should replace them after 4 months of use to avoid mold.