Fan Zhihong Associate Professor, Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, Food College, China Agricultural University, Ph.D. in Food Science.
It has been asked in recent days that some South Korean media have stated that “pork pork contains unsaturated fatty acids that can effectively help discharge fine particulates and heavy metals that accumulate in human respiratory organs and lungs for a long timeâ€. At the same time, South Korea's sales of mineral water have increased significantly because of the legend that drinking mineral water can resist haze. It's ridiculous to hear it, but no matter how ridiculous it is, it will attract eyeballs as long as it is linked to anti-fog and haze.
Popular science fatty acids, unsaturated fatty acids
Let's talk about unsaturated fatty acids, which are called anti-fog and haze ingredients. It is not a component of the Chinese diet that is lacking, because both vegetable oils and nut oils are rich in unsaturated fatty acids. Pork belly is certainly not the main source of unsaturated fatty acids, and it is not the recommended source. Many people who know a bit of nutrition knowledge have listened to the South Korean media and have said bluntly that not all saturated fats are among meat fats. Where does the unsaturated fatty acid come from?
I really want to take a look at popular science here. What is the state of the fatty acids in meat? Is it really all saturated fatty acids? The truth is that meat contains a lot of monounsaturated fatty acids. For example, pork contains 40%-50% saturated fatty acids, and unsaturated fatty acids account for about half, most of which are monounsaturated fatty acids, which account for about 45% of total fatty acids. However, this figure is not high because the proportion of unsaturated fatty acids commonly used in cooking oil in the country is as high as 70%-90%. Every day, Chinese cooking, braised, and fried Chinese only hate cooking oil and eat too much. The truth? To eat some unsaturated fatty acids, there is absolutely no need to help pork belly. Probably only in places where Japan and Korea use very little cooking oil can there be a need to increase the consideration of unsaturated fatty acids.
Closer to home, in South Korea, rumors that the so-called unsaturated fatty acids help rule out fine particles and heavy metals in the lungs, did not see a credible scientific basis. Incredibly, how do unsaturated fatty acids go from the gastrointestinal tract to the alveoli? Can the respiratory system secrete unsaturated fatty acids? How do unsaturated fatty acids bind to heavy metals attached to inhalable particles in the lungs? As far as I know about chemistry, I would like to take a step back and say that if there are really unsaturated fatty acids in the alveoli, what happens when it encounters heavy metals? I am afraid that the fact is that in an oxygen-rich environment, lead, cadmium and other heavy metals can effectively catalyze the oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids, and fat oxidation is not a good thing for the human body.
It has also been suggested that omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids have the effect of reducing the inflammatory response, and may have some beneficial effects on smog-induced airway inflammation. Unfortunately, fat pork contains almost no omega-3 fatty acids. Among the poor polyunsaturated fatty acids, almost all of them are omega-6 fatty acids, and these fatty acids increase inflammation. Therefore, if it is said that replacing pork with fatty fish (such as saury, spring fish, squid, etc.) is somewhat useful, it can also be slightly touched on the side of this reason. Fish and fishery products themselves have a certain degree of heavy metal pollution, and excessive intake of animal protein and animal fat will increase the carcinogenic effect of carcinogens, so do not eat special fish due to the increase of omega-3. . In fact, there are still many foods that help reduce the inflammatory response. Eating more fruits and vegetables has the effect. Changing white rice flour into miscellaneous grains and potatoes also has such an effect, and it is much safer than a large draft product.
"Running the lungs" may not be related to anti-"fog and haze"; eating more vegetables "anti-fog and haze" is not all right.
Then someone asked again, the traditional Chinese medicine recommended nourishing yin and lungs, detoxification of the therapeutic side to do it? I am not a specialist in Chinese medicine, so I cannot give an effective assessment. We can understand that in ancient times there was no haze caused by such human pollution. What food has to do with haze, and the ancients could not do relevant research and leave us with reliable experience. Therefore, the personal opinion is that the so-called “Runfei†ingredients do not necessarily have special effects on smog. But properly eating fungus and white fungus to obtain some soluble dietary fiber is also helpful in reducing the absorption of heavy metals in the gastrointestinal tract. It is also somewhat beneficial in delaying the rise of postprandial blood glucose and lipids, and is beneficial to health as a whole.
However, some people asked me with a face of ignorance. I heard that mushroom foods are highly contaminated and can enrich the heavy metals in the environment. Fungus Tremella and other fungus are fungi, but can they eat it? My answer is: According to the results of the current local determination, there are indeed reports of heavy metals exceeding standards, but the proportion is still very small, most of the products are qualified. The size of heavy metals in bacteria is mainly related to its growth environment. In areas where soil and water have been contaminated by heavy metals, wild fungi are the most dangerous. However, artificially cultivated fungi grow on the medium and are not exposed to the external environment. Instead, they are relatively safe. Moreover, the heavy metals in the fungus are not soluble and are usually present in combination with dietary fiber. Even if they enter the body, the absorption rate is low. Therefore, under the premise of a small amount of food, various fungi do not need to worry about safety.
In addition, there is a legend that "eat more vegetables can fight haze." This argument is a bit plausible, but it is only "swapped". This is because dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach, amaranth, canola, and kale are rich in chlorophyll and carotene. Chlorophyll helps to reduce the mutagenic effects of certain chemical poisons. Carotene is converted into vitamin A in the body, which is beneficial to the resistance of epithelial tissues (including the digestive tract, respiratory tract, reproductive tract, mucous membranes of the eyes, skin, etc.). The ability to repair, which a variety of antioxidant substances also help reduce the inflammatory response. These effects may have certain benefits for preventing respiratory mucosal damage caused by smog. However, this does not mean that vegetables are anti-fog foods.
The main food sources of vitamin A are high cholesterol foods such as liver, kidney, butter, and egg yolk. But people also worry about the cholesterol in these foods. The carotenoids in the dark green, orange and yellow fruits and vegetables can be converted into vitamin A, which at the same time helps to prevent various chronic diseases. According to the recommendations of our dietary guidelines, eat about half a catty of dark green leafy vegetables each day.
I personally thought that if one person seldom eats vegetables every day, now that eating green vegetables is more resistant to smog, it increases the amount of green leafy food. The benefits of eating dark green leafy vegetables are too many. They are of great benefit in preventing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, cognitive deterioration in the elderly and osteoporosis.
Haze is only one of the hazards. Lack of exercise and nutrition are unhealthy.
I would very much like to remind friends who are worried about haze damage. Don't hear what foods are desperate for anti-fog and haze. Use it to share the share of other natural foods. For example, some people have heard that the fungus can remove the pollution, and eat Dunganx fungus as the main dish. Some people have heard that lily is good for the lungs. This practice is highly undesirable because a few ingredients do not replace the health benefits of other ingredients. The rational way is to add a small amount of these ingredients to the food and use the haze as an opportunity to increase the degree of diversification of food and pay more attention to the health of their diet.
In fact, smog is only one of the multiple health hazards that our body faces. In addition to haze, there are a lot of stress, bad mood, late nights, lack of exercise, unreasonable food nutrition, excessive alcohol and tobacco, abuse of prescription drugs, and so on. Although we can't really solve the problem of smog, we can't solve it in a short period of time, but all these other issues are aspects that everyone can control. Regrettably, many people will make such strong arguments: "The haze has not yet been resolved. What is the use of smokelessness?" "The haze has not yet been resolved. What is the use of my healthy life?" "Food is contaminated, and I pay attention to nutrition. What use?" This kind of logic is really harmful.
Health can be affected by a variety of factors. If everything else is done well, only the danger of haze is worrying. It is better than several dangers that threaten health. Just like when we fight, it is better to face only one enemy, which is always better than the enemy, even if it is embattled and surrounded by multiple enemies. Why do we ignore the aspects that we can manage and only focus our eyes on the haze?
In the final analysis, the sentence I used to say many times before: the inferiority of people. It is to be infinitely loose to oneself and always wants to push the responsibility to the environment and push it to others. This kind of emotion can be understood, but if you think about it for the rest of your life, you can only hurt yourself. In the absence of a short-term solution to environmental pollution, all we can do is work hard to strengthen our own health. In this way, in a polluted environment, it is more resistant than others and lives better.
When I think about it here, I think it is indeed a very happy thing for Koreans, who may be more or less light on a weekday diet, to find ways to eat pork belly and improve their quality of life. I would like to open this way. Maybe in the future, we can still see the saying that “eating cheese cakes against haze and eating mutton and smog against haze†make people have reason to eat more food. ......
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