A wild assertion was recently made by Dr. Sutat Duangdeeden at the recent 8th Annual Cancer Seminar in Pattaya.
The head of Chonburi Cancer Hospital claims that eating lots of somtam may be a contributing factor to the uprise in cancer cases and deaths, now up to 60,000 new cases each year and more fatalities than ever before in Thailand.
Are you scratching your head yet? Thais have been eating somtam for generations, why would their favorite salad suddenly be making them sick?
While Dr. Sutat did acknowledge that reasons for cancer vary, he’s pointing a finger at pla ra, the raw fish paste used in the spicy salad — alongside other raw foods — as increasing the rates of worm infections in Thailand, which can lead to liver cancer, reported Pattaya Mail.
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