Sihaiwang: in summer, when food is stored at room temperature, the peak of nitrite can be reached in 1-3 days. If it is put in the refrigerator, it will be relatively better, and the 'nitrite peak' will be delayed to 3-5 days. Not only fresh vegetables need to be eaten, but also fried vegetables. So what else should we pay attention to in our summer diet.
What should be paid attention to in summer diet
Watch out for nitrite poisoning in summer
Intestinal disorders can also cause nitrite poisoning
Nitrite mainly exists in salted vegetables, meat, dirty well water and rotten vegetables. Nitrate, which is ubiquitous in food, can be transformed into nitrite which is harmful to human body under the action of bacteria. Especially in summer, when the weather is hot, bacteria are more likely to grow, which makes the content of nitrite in food also increase significantly. In addition, in some special cases, such as intestinal dysfunction, due to the reduction of gastric acid secretion, nitrate in the intestinal nitrate reducing bacteria (Salmonella and Escherichia coli) can reduce a large number of nitrate to nitrite, resulting in nitrite poisoning.
Nitrite can make red blood cells lose the ability to carry oxygen, and make people appear hypoxia symptoms. Under the condition of stomach acid, nitrite can react with the protein decomposition product 'amine' in food to produce N-nitroso compounds with high carcinogenicity. Nitrates and nitrites are common in nature, and their contents are usually not harmful to human body. But with the increasing use of nitrogen fertilizer, the increasing use of chromogenic agents, the gradual increase of surplus food, the enthusiasm of pickled food and other reasons, nitrite has inevitably harmed people's health.
The most easily enriched nitrate in vegetables
Under the natural condition, vegetables can easily enrich nitrate when they synthesize protein by nitrate nitrogen. At present, the use of nitrogen fertilizer is more and more flooding, but also increased the production of nitrate. However, the content of nitrite fluctuated from picking to heating.
Experts say that when vegetables are just harvested, they have very little nitrite. However, after a long time at room temperature, the metabolism of this synthetic protein gradually weakened, and the activity of nitrate reductase in vegetables increased, resulting in the reduction of nitrate to nitrite in vegetables.
When stored at room temperature, the nitrite peak can be reached in 1-3 days. If stored in the refrigerator, it will be relatively better, and the 'nitrite peak' will be delayed to 3-5 days. Not only fresh vegetables need to be eaten, but also fried vegetables, because bacteria are also rich in nitrate reductase. In a study, 20 kinds of vegetables were used to detect nitrite on the same day and overnight. It was found that the content of nitrite in overnight vegetables was higher than that in the same day vegetables.
Good looking meat with high nitrite content
'you may not know that meat is also an important source of nitrite'. Experts said, please think carefully, why do we eat meat out for dinner a lot of times when it's cooked, the color is still tender red, pretty? Why can't the meat we cook at home be as tender and smooth as the meat we eat outside no matter how we control the temperature? Why do cooked meats sold outside last longer? All of these depend on nitrite, which has three effects of hair color, tender meat flavor and extended shelf life. We often think that the meat made at home is not as delicious as the meat made outside, no matter its color, taste or texture. However, nitrite is actually the secret of many chefs.
Among the meat products, the bacon, sausage and other preserved meat products that are often eaten in autumn and winter, the bacon and barbecue meat that are often bought in the barbecue shop, the western style ham that is often selected in the supermarket, all kinds of seafood dry goods that are often prepared at home, meat sausage, fermented meat products and canned meat are breeding grounds for nitrite. In fact, nitrite is a kind of food additive that can be used according to the national regulations, but there is no strict supervision in the use process. Experts say, for example, that many of the water used to make water injected meat now contains nitrite, which makes the water injected meat longer and more beautiful in color. When the restaurant buys the meat back, the chef marinates the meat with a spoonful of tender meat powder, which can easily lead to excessive nitrite.
In fact, this also reflects the consumer's hobbies. They like to choose good-looking and tender meat to eat, but they don't know the crisis of meat reserve which violates the natural law. Experts remind that in order to let the next generation know the color of meat itself, we'd better get rid of the bad habit of "lust" as early as possible.