Are the food taboos that these parents believe in and tirelessly spread, even written in special books, really reliable? Should we believe it?
Those "food taboos" that have taught us for many years.
There seems to be a well-founded saying that foods are compatible with each other, sometimes based on traditional Chinese medicine theory and sometimes based on modern medical theory. And some of the consequences are still very serious, threatening human health and even life. Let's see what they say. (The following source, Baidu Encyclopedia)
Potato beef
Taboo reasons: The different concentrations of gastric acid required for the digestion of potatoes and beef will inevitably prolong the retention time of food in the stomach, thus prolonging the digestion and absorption time of the gastrointestinal tract, so over time, it will inevitably lead to gastrointestinal dysfunction.
Seafood lemon
Taboo reason: seafood such as shrimp contains a lot of pentavalent arsenic compounds. After encountering lemon rich in vitamin C, originally nontoxic pentavalent arsenic is transformed into toxic trivalent arsenic due to chemical action, which is also commonly known as arsenic, which is harmful to life.
Milk orange
Taboo reason: Eat oranges just after drinking milk. protein in milk will first meet the fruit acid and vitamin C in oranges, and solidify into blocks, which will affect digestion and absorption.
Cucumber and peanut
Taboo reason: Because the combination of these two foods may cause diarrhea. Cucumber is sweet, cold and often eaten raw, while peanuts are oily. Generally speaking, if cold food meets oil, it will increase its smoothness and may lead to diarrhea.
Tea eggs
Taboo reasons: In addition to alkaloids, there are acidic substances in tea. These compounds combine with iron in eggs, which has stimulating effect on the stomach and is not conducive to digestion and absorption.
Persimmon seafood
Reasons for taboo: Persimmons should not be eaten with high-protein crabs, fish, shrimps and other foods. In traditional Chinese medicine, crabs and persimmons are cold foods and cannot be eaten together. From the point of view of modern medicine, high-protein crabs, fish and shrimps are easily solidified into lumps, that is, stomach persimmon stones, under the action of tannic acid rich in persimmons.
More food taboos complement each other.
Eggs and saccharin were poisoned and died together.
Tofu and honey eat deafness together
Constipation of kelp and pig blood
Potatoes and bananas eat freckle together.
Eating beef and brown sugar at the same time swells to death.
Eating dog meat with eel will kill you.
Mutton+snail food bloating
Celery and rabbit meat can be depilated together.
Eating tomatoes and mung beans together hurts your vitality.
Crabs and persimmons eat diarrhea together.
Eating goose and pear together hurts the kidney.
Eating onions and honey together hurts your eyes.
Snakehead and eggplant have stomachache together.
Poisoning by eating turtle and amaranth at the same time
Preserved egg+brown sugar with vomiting
Ginseng and radish eat together, and accumulate food and stagnate qi.
It's boring to eat white wine and persimmon together.
Eating dog meat and mung beans together will explode.
Saccharin+liqueur will be poisoned when eaten together.
Eating garlic and rehmannia together will affect the absorption of nutrients.
Chestnuts and duck will be poisoned when eaten together.
Milk+sugar milk can react with fructose when heated, producing toxic fructose amino acids, which is harmful to human body.
Eating garlic and green onions together will hurt your stomach.
Sheep liver+bamboo shoots will be poisoned.
Tofu+onion Tofu contains calcium, and onion contains a certain amount of oxalic acid. Both of them are edible and combined into calcium oxalate, which is not easy to absorb.
Eating watermelon and mutton at the same time hurts your vitality.
Spinach+cucumber destroys vitamin c
Garlic and dog meat will be poisoned when eaten together.
Eating cucumber and celery together will reduce the absorption of nutrients.
Eating peanuts and cucumbers together will do harm to your health.
Ophiopogon japonicus and crucian carp will be poisoned when eaten together.
Persimmon+crab will be poisoned when eaten together.
Honey+rice will have a stomachache.
Celery and turtle will be poisoned when eaten together.
Glutamate is also contained in monosodium glutamate+eggs. Adding monosodium glutamate to scrambled eggs will destroy and cover up the natural flavor of eggs.
Shrimp skin and red dates will be poisoned when eaten together.
Eating chicken and sesame together can be fatal.
Goose and persimmon will die if eaten together.
Eating chocolate and milk together is easy to form insoluble calcium oxalate, which will lead to dry hair.
Sheep liver+red beans will be poisoned.
Milk+fruit juice is an acidic beverage, which will make protein coagulate into lumps, affect absorption and reduce the nutrition of milk.
Soybean milk+brown sugar The combination of organic acid of brown sugar and protein of soybean milk produces denatured precipitation, which reduces the nutritional value.
Radish+auricularia can get dermatitis when eaten together.
Eating tomatoes and sweet potatoes together can lead to lithiasis, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
Persimmon+potato eating potatoes will produce hydrochloric acid in the stomach, and persimmon will precipitate under the action of gastric acid, which is difficult to digest and discharge.
Eating soybeans and pig blood together will cause indigestion.
Xihong chair+pig liver makes vitamin C oxidized and deprived of its original ascorbic acid function.
Aldehydes and sweet and sour residues in cellulose contained in pig liver and cauliflower can form chelates with iron, copper and zinc in pig liver.
Eating honey and tofu flower together can cause deafness.
Copper in pig liver+bean sprouts pig liver will accelerate the oxidation of vitamin C in bean sprouts and lose its nutritional value.
Eating red dates+fish+onions together can lead to indigestion.
Tomatoes and carrots with foods rich in vitamin C will destroy vitamin C.
Yogurt+banana is easy to produce carcinogens.
Milk+leek milk and leek rich in oxalic acid will affect the absorption of calcium.
Mucins in soybean milk and eggs are easy to combine with trypsin in soybean milk and are not easy to absorb.
Alkali+porridge vitamins B 1, B2, nicotinic acid and vitamin C are very stable in acid and easy to decompose in alkaline environment.
Vitamin C in fish+tomato food can inhibit the release of copper.
Tomato+cucumber Cucumber contains vitamin C decomposing enzyme, which can destroy vitamin C in tomato when eaten together.
Eating fruit and radish together is easy to get goiter.
The ascorbic acid contained in carrot+white radish destroys the vitamin C of white radish and reduces its nutritional value.
Experts revealed the theoretical version:
Food compatibility is a false proposition.
After reading so many dietary taboos, you may gasp. Do you dare to eat? Experts tell you that most of these are bullshit!
Q: Where do food taboos come from?
Fan Zhihong (Associate Professor, Doctor of Food Science, School of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University): When reading popular science books under the banner of "nutrition and health", most of them involve some expressions about dietary taboos and food compatibility. After numerous repetitions, these so-called "taboos" have gradually taken root in people's hearts. When people observe these taboos in awe, they often forget their sources and reasons. In fact, if we scrutinize it carefully, most of the so-called taboos are meaningless, theoretically untenable, and some are even absurd. Many statements come from non-professionals or authors of fashion and life magazines. These people may mainly aim at earning royalties, but they may not have a rigorous scientific attitude and accurate professional knowledge. If there is no information signed by the author, be sure to put a question mark and don't believe it all. Those articles that explain the author's work unit and professional title are more credible, but we should also pay attention to the interlacing, such as mountains, and no expert knows everything. A medical expert may not know much about food; Food experts may not have an accurate understanding of diseases. The most reliable source of information is authoritative academic journals. The information in the mass media, including all kinds of books used every day, is probably unreliable and inaccurate. Remember that the essence of the media is to attract attention. They usually lack scientific judgment, will not refuse those sensational remarks, and even take the initiative to add fuel to the fire.
Q food taboos, what do modern science think?
Yun (Doctor of Food Engineering): Although many "food collocation taboos" are taken for granted or misinformed, at least in theory, the "possibility" that two harmless things react to produce harmful substances cannot be ruled out. This is also the reason why many people "would rather believe it." Without reliable research data, it is really difficult to simply affirm or deny a legendary "taboo".
In fact, with the development of modern science, the main ingredients in general food have become quite clear. If there is a combination that is harmful to health, it will definitely be released through reliable channels. For those vivid "collocation taboos", "I'd rather believe them" will not bring any harm. As long as you are willing, you can at least get psychological comfort. If you ignore those "collocation taboos", it's no big deal. After all, the case of hurting people through two kinds of ordinary food has only been seen in legendary novels. Even those "taboos" often only "may" affect the absorption of certain components, and will not become "toxic" substances.
Q: Is it reliable to poison the enemy with food?
Cloud unintentional: unreliable. There are many ingredients in food, and there are countless reactions that can be combined with each other in theory. So logically, it may be that "food interferes with each other" or produces toxic substances, which is also the reason why various "collocation taboos" emerge one after another. However, from another point of view, if the legendary taboos are established, many people will not easily live to old age safely-because for most people, they simply can't remember those taboos or even know these "taboos". In fact, under the condition of cooking, the reaction between food ingredients is very simple. Many times, only certain food ingredients can react with each other, and the products cannot be absorbed by the human body. These unabsorbable substances are excreted in the intestine, which may affect the absorption of some nutrients. However, unlike the legend, the recombination of ingredients will lead to "toxic substances" and cause harm to the body.
Jun Xu, executive director of China Nutrition Society: The human body is not a test tube, it is sealed from light, and it also has the function of gastrointestinal fluid. Theoretically, the feasible chemical reaction in human body is by no means 1+ 1 equal to 2.
Q: How harmful is it to violate food "taboos"?
Fan Zhihong: We might as well divide taboos into two categories: one is related to "reducing nutrient absorption" or "causing some kind of nutrient destruction"; The other is related to poisoning and illness. The latter should be vigilant, while the former is almost harmless. If this taboo is deducted, there are only a handful of taboos left, leaving only those that have been recorded in Chinese medicine books. However, most of these situations will not happen in the daily diet of healthy people, and only a few need to pay attention.
If you really care about the health of yourself and your family, please don't pester those boring taboos. First of all, we must find out our physique and know which foods are uncomfortable and which foods cheer us up. This influence is mostly related to a person's physique and physical state, but has nothing to do with most "taboos". Let's work hard in a positive direction, learn more about our bodies, think more about how to match food, achieve a balanced nutrition, and help prevent various chronic diseases. Do this, and health will naturally accompany you for a long time.
Experts reveal the case version: give a "chestnut"
Theory is not enough? Experts use examples to answer the fallacies of seemingly reasonable dietary taboos.
Affect and destroy nutrient absorption.
One of "chestnuts": spinach+tofu, free to eat?
Cloud letter: This is probably the most widely circulated and accepted dietary taboo. Spinach contains a lot of oxalic acid. Oxalic acid has a very strong binding capacity with calcium, and calcium oxalate cannot be absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract, so eating spinach with tofu will affect the absorption of calcium. There is no problem in chemical principle, so it is generally believed that spinach should not be eaten with tofu. However, the problem is not that simple. Oxalic acid in spinach should be combined with calcium in tofu, and there is bound to be a chance for them to meet. When you eat both spinach and tofu in a meal, after all, these things are solid, so it's hard to say how many chances you will meet them in the gastrointestinal tract. If you eat spinach alone, then oxalic acid will be absorbed by the human body. Oxalic acid itself is harmful. After it enters the kidney, if the concentration is high enough, it may combine with calcium there (don't forget that there is calcium in the human body), and then it will deposit and become kidney calculi. Of course, for completely healthy people, especially those who have no problem with renal function, ordinary levels of oxalic acid can be disposed of by the kidneys, but don't worry too much. But for people whose kidneys are not strong enough, or those who already have kidney calculi, the oxalic acid in spinach is even worse. However, if oxalic acid in spinach is combined with calcium eaten at the same time, it will not be absorbed but discharged. The calcium here even has the function of detoxification. There are many similar studies, and the best result is the removal of more than 90% oxalic acid. Therefore, if the calcium in tofu is not affected by oxalic acid in spinach, there will naturally be no loss. If it is really combined with oxalic acid, it can't be absorbed. Compared with the protective effect on the kidney, it is not a pity to lose some calcium, right? What's more, the most important thing to eat tofu is protein, and spinach has many other beneficial ingredients. The calcium in tofu is lost, so make up for it from other foods.
"Chestnut" 2: protein will denature when it meets acid, which will affect its absorption?
There are many taboos that "so-and-so can't be eaten with milk", but the explanation is that so-and-so is acidic, which will lead to the denaturation and solidification of protein in milk and affect the absorption of protein. The first half of this explanation is correct. Casein in milk is very soluble in acidic environment, and will condense into flocculent precipitate, which seems to really affect appetite. However, it is completely natural to affect absorption. The human stomach is acidic, and protein's condensation will not affect absorption. All protein entering the gastrointestinal tract must be decomposed by protease before it can be absorbed. Many dairy products, such as yogurt and cheese, have been completely denatured and concentrated.
The third "chestnut": Can soybean milk and eggs be eaten together?
Fan Zhihong: Everyone supports this view, because raw soybean milk contains "trypsin inhibitor" (please note that it is not "trypsin"), which is an anti-nutritional factor and will hinder the digestion of protein by trypsin in human intestine. Eggs are rich in high-quality protein, so if you wash eggs with undercooked soybean milk, the digestion and absorption rate of protein may be reduced due to the interference of "trypsin inhibitor".
After listening to the above theory, we can know that the premise of this taboo is that soybean milk is not cooked thoroughly, and most "trypsin inhibitors" are not inactivated, which will hinder protein's digestion, absorption and utilization. However, it cannot be inferred from "it is not appropriate to wash eggs with unheated soybean milk" that "cooked soybean milk cannot be eaten with eggs". Obviously, extending the conclusion that "soybean milk and eggs are washed together and not absorbed by protein" to the conclusion that "soybean milk and eggs are eaten together and not absorbed" is logically untenable. In fact, people only drink soybean milk, which will bring great benefits to their health, and it is also a supplement to protein. Then, since the protein of cooked soybean milk itself can be well digested and absorbed, it shows that protease inhibitors have been fully destroyed. What's wrong with eating another indigestible egg?
The fourth "chestnut": cucumber+tomato, will it destroy the vitamin C of tomato?
Fan Zhihong: The theoretical basis that cucumber and tomato can't be eaten together is that an enzyme in cucumber will destroy vitamin C in tomato. So how powerful is this enzyme? Can you destroy all the vitamin C in cucumber itself? In fact, the food composition table shows that cucumber itself contains vitamin C, and the content is 8 mg/100 g, which can be determined. Since this enzyme can't completely destroy the vitamin C in cucumber, how can it destroy the vitamin C in tomato? Logically, it is obviously untenable. In fact, many fruits and vegetables contain "vitamin C oxidase", but this enzyme will only be released when cells are destroyed, and will be inactivated after heating, and its activity will be inhibited in a very acidic stomach.
Let me ask you another question from another angle: If cucumbers are not eaten with tomatoes, can they be eaten with other fruits and vegetables? The answer is obviously no, because all other vegetables and fruits contain vitamin C without exception. So, can't cucumbers eat all three meals? By extension, vegetables containing vitamin C oxidase can't be eaten for three meals? Obviously, this is a very absurd conclusion.
The fifth chestnut: Can't milk be drunk on an empty stomach?
Fan Zhihong: Many people think that milk can't be drunk on an empty stomach, because the gastrointestinal peristalsis is very fast on an empty stomach, and milk is a liquid, which may even pass through the intestine, and the nutrients in it will be wasted. So, they didn't eat breakfast. When they were hungry, they had boxed milk at hand, but they didn't dare to drink it until noon.
Not to mention that the human digestive tract is not a funnel, milk will become a blood clot in the stomach, and what flows out of the intestine is completely crazy imagination without common sense; Even if the intestinal peristalsis is accelerated and the absorption rate of nutrients is reduced, most nutrients in milk will still be absorbed. Babies drink milk on an empty stomach. Didn't they grow up by absorbing nutrition? Since babies can absorb nutrients, the digestive ability of adults must not be poor. Even if the absorption rate is reduced by 30%, after all, there are still 70% nutrients available to the body, which is much better than being hungry all the time!
It's incredible. People in China who cherish protein and nutrition often eat big fish and meat on an empty stomach at banquets. You know, the protein content of these things is much higher than that of milk, and there is no carbohydrate at all. Eating a lot on an empty stomach is really wasteful, and it will increase the production of "garbage" in the body! But everyone had a good time and didn't feel sorry for wasting resources at all. In that case, why worry about drinking milk on an empty stomach?
★ Warm reminder: milk allergy and lactose intolerance are exceptions. The former really can't drink milk, while the latter can drink yogurt or eat staple food with milk.