Do detergents cause cancer? Not washing dishes for 4 hours = eating poison? 3 ways to wash dishes that may harm your health
"After eating, wash the dishes"
"Well...you can do whatever you want with me, I just hate washing dishes the most."
This conversation often happens after Xiaojiu and her mother have finished eating, but usually the resistance is ineffective, so the piles of bowls will be in the sink, squeezed with detergent, soaked...
Do you know how many bacteria will be produced by soaking a bowl in water for a while before washing it? In addition, in fact, there are many misunderstandings about washing dishes in life, let's take a look.
1. Not washing dishes for 4 hours = eating poison?
Faced with a pile of bowls after a meal, do you wash them immediately or just drag them? Then there are rumors that if you don't wash the dishes for 4 hours, it is equivalent to eating poison.
Why do you have this view? Maybe it has to do with two arguments:
It takes 1-4 hours of adaptation period for bacteria to enter the new environment. During this stage, the reproduction is relatively slow, but after 4 hours, it will enter the period of rapid bacterial reproduction.
The bowl is rich in oil, which creates good conditions for the growth and reproduction of bacteria. For example, bacteria such as Proteus and Salmonella breed and multiply in the soaking bowl, which can easily lead to intestinal diseases. .
These two views are well-founded and seem to be very convincing, but is this really the case?
First, pathogenic bacteria must reach a certain number before they may cause poisoning and infection.
The detergent used to clean tableware has a certain bactericidal function, so that the number of pathogenic bacteria in tableware may not reach the number, and the human body itself also has a strong immunity, so it is not easy to cause poisoning and infection.
Second, bacteria are not necessarily all harmful.
There are various types of bacteria, but not all of them are harmful. For example, Proteus is a type of harmless bacteria, while Salmonella is harmful, but it grows slowly and the optimum temperature for reproduction is 37°C. Therefore, the soaking bowl is actually not a good growing environment for it.
Therefore, the statement that not washing dishes for 4 hours is equivalent to "eating poison" may be an exaggeration. However, it is not a good thing to accumulate tableware and chopsticks without washing . After all, there are too many harmful bacteria or the cleaning is not thorough, and there is also the risk of "disease from the mouth".
Second, washing dishes with dish soap every day, will it cause cancer?
Generally speaking, dishwashing detergent is often used. Is there any health hazard in this cleaning method?
The main components of detergents include surfactants, pigments, fragrances, etc. Among them, the ingredients such as essence and pigment are to make the detergent smell better and look better, while the surfactant is the most abundant ingredient in the detergent except water, and it is the main ingredient that the detergent can clean the dishes and chopsticks. hero.
The surfactant of detergent is the main object of people's concern about detergent.
However, this concern is actually "not necessary".
First, there are many types of surfactants, but the surfactants used in detergents have been tested and proven to be safe for many years of actual use, and they are safe surfactants.
Second, the state has strict regulations and standards for the product quality and safety of detergents, and also regularly checks the safety of different brands of detergents.
Therefore, as long as we buy qualified detergents produced by regular enterprises, we should not worry too much.
However, there are two types of detergents that are recommended to be used sparingly.
• Bulk detergent
Bulk detergents are "three no products" with no specific manufacturer, date, and ingredient content. They are likely to contain substances that are harmful to the human body. .
• Excessive promotion of antibacterial and sterilization
The surfactant in the detergent has the effect of cleaning and sterilization, and the detergent products under the banner of "antibacterial and sterilization" may be added with alkylphenols and trichlorine, which are easy to destroy the ecological environment balance.
So how to choose a qualified detergent?
When choosing detergent, pay attention to whether the product meets the standards of "GB14930.1-2015 National Food Safety Standard Detergent":
3. Common dishwashing mistakes, beware the more you wash the more dirty
1. Is the dish cloth a universal cloth?
Many housewives will use the dishcloth as an all-purpose cloth, but in fact, this will make it more dirty and cause pathogenic bacteria to run around with the rag.
At the same time, it is not recommended to use porous materials such as cleaning sponges as dishcloths. This material has strong water absorption capacity, but it is easy to leave food residues, allowing a large number of bacteria to grow and multiply.
It is recommended to choose a microfiber cloth or a "lazy rag" for dishcloths. In addition to washing with detergent and wringing to dry, you should also pay attention to regular disinfection, and the best dishwashing cloth is 1-3 months Change it once.
2. Washing chopsticks is perfunctory
Many people wash chopsticks in pairs. In fact, this may damage the protective layer on the surface of the chopsticks, and there will be grooves and cracks on the surface of the chopsticks, which is more likely to breed bacteria and microorganisms. In addition, the cleaned chopsticks are rarely dried, and are usually placed directly in the chopsticks basket, which is likely to make the chopsticks moldy and produce a first-class carcinogen - aflatoxin.
Therefore, it is best to wash chopsticks in water diluted with detergent, one by one. The cleaned chopsticks should be drained and then put into the hollow chopsticks basket, and the chopsticks basket should be cleaned regularly.
In addition, you should also pay attention to the disinfection of chopsticks. You can purchase a chopsticks disinfection machine if you have the conditions. If you don’t have it, you can cook the chopsticks in boiling water for half an hour, which can kill most of the bacteria on the chopsticks. Ordinary bamboo and wood products generally have a shelf life of 3 to 6 months, so they should be replaced in time after the shelf life or obvious deterioration.
3. After washing the bowls and plates, stack them without draining the water
After many people wash the dishes, they directly pile them up and put them in the cabinet without controlling the water, and use them the next day. Will this cause secondary pollution of the dishes?
A study was conducted by the Household Appliances Research Institute. The testers first disinfected all the tableware and coated the surface of the tableware with sterile broth. After that, the tableware was divided into two groups. One group of tableware was directly washed after washing. Stack them up and store them in cupboards, while the other set stands upright on racks in a ventilated position.
Three days later, the tester found that the total number of bacteria in the standing tableware was 8,000cfu/set, which was in line with China's hygiene standards, while the number of bacteria in the stacked tableware was 560,000cfu/set, which was 70 times that of the upright tableware.
What are the risks posed by bacteria?
In terms of short-term harm, common viruses and bacteria such as Salmonella, Escherichia coli, and norovirus can cause acute gastroenteritis symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, and may even be at risk of shock.
In terms of long-term effects, long-term intake of mold is likely to contain aflatoxin, and relevant studies have confirmed that aflatoxin has a certain relationship with the occurrence of liver cancer, esophageal cancer and gastric cancer.
Washing dishes is actually a very trivial housework, but there is a lot of knowledge in it. As the saying goes, "disease comes in from the mouth", so we should understand the health risks that exist due to improper operation in dishwashing.
References:
[1] "4 hours without washing dishes = eating poison? Notice! In this way, the more you wash the dishes, the more dirty you will be. Don't do this again." Popular Science China. 2021-07-13
[2] "Is long-term use of detergent harmful to the body? 》. Medical Code. 022-01-28
[3] "Attention! This cleanser hurts hands and causes cancer! 》. Family Doctor Online. 2022-03-14
[4] "Is your dishcloth clean? This material is the most likely to breed bacteria, and every family has it! 》.Health Times.2020-11-03
[5] "Make these 2 mistakes when washing chopsticks, the bacteria that cause liver cancer will entangle you! Especially the first one, 90% of families will commit ". Family doctor. 2018-01-13
[6] "Washing the dishes in this way increases bacteria by 70 times! Don't eat it in your stomach". New Evening News. 2022-04-12
Reproduction is prohibited without the author's permission