Current situation of human food nutrition improvement
The invention of "cooked food" technology marks the beginning of replacing raw food with cooked food in human diet. After the use of fire was discovered, there was a revolution in human diet from raw food to cooked food. For the first time, humans can burn hunted wild birds, wild animals and wild fruits into nutritious and delicious food. The diet consisting of wild blue food and red meat food is a great progress compared with the original diet dominated by wild fruits. This high-calorie food structure gradually improves human intelligence and physique, and greatly improves human height and life span.
The invention of crop cultivation and breeding technology shows that human diet is mainly starch, and relying on natural and erratic wild animals and plants as the staple food can only make human beings live a half-starved and half-full life. In order to reproduce, human beings have gradually invented technologies such as livestock breeding, irrigation cultivation, introduction and breeding, and primary food processing. By planting dry crops, building water conservancy projects and cultivating high-yield food crops, the problem of food and clothing for human beings will be gradually solved. In the good weather and good harvest season, in order to effectively store food, humans began to process food into a series of foods with long shelf life, such as wine, dried noodles and vermicelli. This second dietary reform, which takes starch (white food) as the staple food, has made human beings get enough food and clothing initially, but the nutrition with carbohydrate as the staple food is often insufficient in protein and low in energy.
The invention of animal domestication and meat and milk processing technology has improved the animal fat, protein content and heat energy in human diet, greatly improved the fat and protein content and heat energy in human diet, and further promoted human physique and intelligence.
Development. However, due to long-term consumption of red food containing "three highs" (high energy, high fat and high protein), there is excess energy, which leads to various diseases of wealth and civilization. For example, the United States began to vigorously promote red foods such as meat, eggs and milk in the 1950s, and put them in the first place for a long time, resulting in a high mortality rate of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. At the same time, due to the extensive use of chemical fertilizers in agricultural production, the development of industry has caused pollution of water quality, air and soil. Adding saccharin, essence, essence, preservative and other additives in food processing introduces unsafe factors and poses a great threat to human health.
Pay attention to the role of dietary fiber in human nutrition and the status of cyan food as one of the staple foods. In the past, people thought that the richer the content of a certain nutrient in food, the better it was for the human body. This concept is one-sided. In view of the fact that some developed countries in Europe and America overemphasize the "civilization disease" caused by the "three highs" food, people have to reflect and begin to realize that the balance and reasonable collocation of nutritional components in the diet is the most important. Modern medicine reveals that although cellulose can't be absorbed by human body, it can be absorbed in reverse, taking away excess nutrients and dirt in the body, which is beneficial to modern people with overnutrition, so it is called the indispensable "seventh nutrient" for human body. Therefore, cyan food rich in chlorophyll, cellulose and vitamins and scientifically processed cyan food occupy an important position in one of the staple foods in the diet structure-this is another reform in which human diet begins to return to nature. However, due to the extensive use of pesticides and fertilizers in the cultivation of green fruits and vegetables and kidney beans, it not only pollutes the environment, but also brings residual poison to food, which has an unhealthy side.
Analysis on the development trend of food nutrition in the future;
With the continuous improvement of living standards and social progress, people's health concepts are constantly updated. People from fetus to birth, from babies to children, from teenagers to adults, and women from marriage.
From pregnancy to childbirth and menopause, men, women and children have different needs for food and nutrition. According to the needs of different people, on the basis of safe food, green food, organic food and ecological food, functional food came into being and developed rapidly. Experts predict that one of the key points to improve the food structure in the future is to use the combination of nutrition and medicine and the progress of biochemical engineering to develop bio-pigments and black foods containing bio-pigments with antioxidant, free radical scavenging and anti-aging according to the needs of different groups.
The so-called biological pigment refers to colored substances that naturally exist in animals, plants and microorganisms and have the functions of scavenging free radicals, antioxidation and anti-aging.
Carotenoids, chlorophyll, flavonoids and anthocyanidins are the most widely distributed and important biological pigments in nature, and black food is the most important carrier of biological pigments. Carotenoids are biological pigments synthesized by plants and microorganisms, and there are about 600 kinds in nature. They are light absorbers for photosynthesis and protective agents for photosensitivity. Besides being used as a pigment, it also has many biological functions. It can be used as a precursor of vitamin A, an enhancer of body immunity, an inhibitor of cell proliferation and tumor transformation, and can reduce the risk of certain diseases, such as certain cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers, senile cataracts and blindness caused by macular degeneration. Chlorophyll is the main substance on which life depends. Studies have confirmed that chlorophyll can inhibit the mutagenicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; In addition, it can also inhibit the mutagenicity of many complex mixtures that are often contacted in the environment and diet, such as fried beef, cigarette smoke, coal dust, diesel emissions and so on. This shows that chlorophyll is likely to have anti-cancer effect. Chlorophyll is rich in resources and non-toxic. Its definite anti-mutagenic effect and in-depth discussion on its anti-tumor effect have broad development prospects and can be used for the prevention of tumors, some cardiovascular diseases and aging.
Flavonoids are a kind of red and blue water-soluble pigments widely distributed in plants, which have the ability to scavenge oxygen free radicals and inhibit lipid peroxidation. Because of their oxidation resistance and low toxicity, these compounds have become biological pigments that are willing to be used in drugs and nutrients. Melanin in black food belongs to anthocyanin compounds. Dark black food contains reasonable nutrition and ingredients conducive to longevity. For example, black rice skin (rice bran) is rich in melanin, which can scavenge hydrogen peroxide, superoxide anion radical and superoxide radical, and obviously inhibit the peroxidation of egg yolk lipoprotein. In addition, there are various animal melanin, such as black-bone chicken melanin and sea cucumber melanin. Studies have shown that these animal melanocytes are effective in preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases, beautifying and prolonging life.
Although biological pigments are still classified as "non-nutritive factors" and "non-nutritive active substances", we believe that with the progress of science and wide application, biological pigments are likely to become the "eighth nutrient" of human body; In order to promote human health and longevity, more dark animal and plant food resources will be selected and developed.