Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Tashkent region governor Zoir Mirzaev said the decline of traditional home baking in clay ovens known as tandyrs is among the factors behind rising cancer rates among women.

Mirzaev told local residents that during visits to neighborhoods he often observes that many homes no longer have tandyrs and that families have shifted from baking traditional flatbread to buying factory-made bread.

He recalled that when he worked in Samarkand region, a Korean doctor conducted an assessment of factors contributing to cancer among women. According to Mirzaev, the doctor identified seven or eight main factors, with low physical activity ranked first. Mirzaev said the abandonment of tandyr baking was listed fourth.

The governor argued that working near a hot tandyr increases blood circulation and helps "cleanse blood vessels." In his view, this process was previously an important contributor to women's health.