This might be news to an entire continent. As a card-carrying Korean, this thread is the first place I’ve ever read about this issue. Please know that I’m not discounting it - I have just never heard about this and I’m reacting off-the-cuff here. There’s a high incidence of gastric cancers amongst Koreans. That could be due to smoked foods (as has been seen in the Japanese) or maybe consumption of lots of fermented foods in Koreans? Or maybe spore-laden rice is a contributing factor? As a kid and adult, cooked rice was routinely left in the rice cooker and eaten over the course of the week. Mom rarely refrigerated rice. I do, but I have also been known to leave rice out for several days, particularly during the colder months.
Anyway, I shouldn’t be thinking aloud like this without substantiation, but thanks for the food for thought.
