Soak rice in warm water to help absorption of calcium, a wonderful way to promote absorption of calcium! Rice and white noodles are one of the most commonly eaten foods in our life, but they contain a substance called phytic acid, which will affect the absorption of proteins and minerals in the body, especially calcium, magnesium and other important elements. There are some tips to help us solve this problem.
Phytic acid is a kind of organic acid, which mainly exists in rice, white flour and other cereal, whole wheat food, especially in buckwheat, oats, sorghum. It can combine with proteins and minerals to form insoluble compounds, thus reducing their digestibility and absorption. Rice and white noodles are not very rich in calcium, but the phytic acid they contain can not only combine with the calcium and magnesium contained in the grain itself, but also with the calcium and magnesium in other foods in the digestive tract, producing calcium and magnesium phytate that can not be absorbed by the human body, greatly reducing the absorption of calcium by the human body. In addition to calcium and magnesium, phytic acid and other microelements in the body, such as iron, zinc, copper, manganese, can also form insoluble salts, thus affecting the absorption and utilization of these important microelements in the body.
Although rice contains more phytic acid, it also contains a kind of 'phytase' which can decompose phytic acid. Phytase has the highest activity in the environment of 40 ℃ ~ 60 ℃. Therefore, when we wash rice, we can first soak rice in a proper amount of warm water for a while, and then wash it. In the process of soaking in warm water, phytase is very active. It can decompose most phytic acid in rice, so it will not affect the absorption of protein, calcium, magnesium and other minerals in the body too much.
There is also a problem of too much phytic acid in the food made of wheat such as white flour. It is a good way to solve this problem to eat fermented flour as much as possible. Fermentation will degrade some nutrients in flour, release the free calcium, phosphorus, amino acids, vitamins and other nutrients, especially yeast can secrete an active phytase, hydrolyze the phytic acid in flour, and avoid it affecting the digestibility and absorption rate of other nutrients.