Diligence and frugality are the traditional virtues of our Chinese nation. The elderly in the family like to keep things no matter what they are. Even if they throw them away in the end, they are not willing to throw them away at the first time.
Especially there are a lot of leftovers at home, and elderly friends are reluctant to throw them away even if they have been reheated for several times. However, nowadays people are paying more and more attention to health preservation, and there are many opinions on the Internet about overnight meals. Many people agree that eating overnight meals regularly will cause cancer risks.
1
"Overnight food" has nothing to do with "night"
Many people Everyone thinks that overnight meals are meals that have been left overnight. In fact, from a health perspective, overnight meals have little to do with the night. In a real sense, after 5 to 6 hours of gastrointestinal storage, the temperature and structure of the dishes will change, and a certain amount of nitrite will be produced after secondary heating.
After nitrite enters the human body, it will be converted into nitrite enzyme through the secretion of gastric acid , which will increase the pressure burden on the gastrointestinal tract and cause symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.
The World Health Organization classified nitrosaminase as a secondary carcinogen in 2011. This substance will hinder the self-operation and repair of the gastrointestinal tract, increase the detoxification burden on the liver, kidneys and other organs, and increase the risk of cancer.
2
Can overnight meals really cause cancer?
In fact, as of now, there is no evidence to prove the causal relationship between overnight meals and cancer.
The reason why there is such a statement is because overnight meals contain nitrite. In fact, vegetables themselves contain nitrate, because they absorb nitrogen fertilizeror nitrogen during the growth process, so even if we eat fresh vegetables, we will consume more nitrates and nitrites.
Nitrite is not as scary as people think. Within the reasonable scope of use, it also has an antibacterial effect. In the food industry, the country allows the addition of nitrate, nitrate or nitrite to cooked food or meat products to slow down the growth rate of microorganisms and maintain the appearance and taste of meat products.
Our country stipulates that the content of sodium nitrite in every kilogram of cooked food products shall not exceed 30 mg, and the content of sodium nitrite in every kilogram of pickled vegetables shall not exceed 20 mg.
However, the daily overnight dishes only contain 7 mg of nitrite, which is far lower than the above standards, so it does not pose any threat to health.
And in life, not all overnight meals are forbidden. There are some overnight meals that you can eat with confidence.
3
Which of overnight meat, overnight vegetables, overnight tea and overnight eggs cannot be eaten? Be sure to understand in advance
[Overnight Meat]
The nitrate content of meat itself is very small, and the safety of meat is relatively high, so even the nitrite content produced in overnight meat is relatively small.
Meat products contain high-quality protein , which is an indispensable energy substance for our human body. It helps to stabilize sodium salt , balance the acid-base balance, and improve the immune system resistance.
For meat products, raw meat can be stored for about 15 days under refrigerated conditions. During the cooking process, attention should be paid to the temperature selection to avoid not killing all the bacteria on the surface.
Meat that has been left overnight is edible, as long as it is fully reheated.
[Overnight vegetables]
Green leafy vegetables category
If they are green leafy vegetables, they contain a relatively high nitrite content. If left overnight, the nitrite content will increase significantly. You cannot continue to eat such overnight vegetables.
Cold dishes
According to relevant research, there are 132 different Enterobacter pathogens originating from raw corn and vegetables. Because they have not been processed at high temperatures, cold dishes are more conducive to the reproduction of bacteria . Do not continue to eat the leftover cold dishes.
[ Overnight tea ]
In daily life, many people have the habit of drinking tea. Different teas have different effects, but if the tea leaves are left overnight, they cannot continue to drink them.
A reporter from my country's CCTV once conducted a professional survey in a Beijing teahouse and conducted group experiments on Longjing Pu'er chrysanthemum tea.
banned 12 hours of observation and concluded that the three different teas did not deteriorate when placed at the same temperature, but the original taste changed to a rich state.
However, tea contains tea polyphenols and theophylline. If it is left for too long, it will easily breed a large number of bacteria and become a bacterial culture. Therefore, do not drink tea if it is left for a long time.
[Overnight eggs]
The nutritional value of eggs is relatively high. Eggs contain high-quality protein, but overnight eggs are more particular, because if the eggs are fully cooked, the Salmonella in the eggs will have been eliminated during the heating process. If they are not fully cooked, it will easily breed a large number of bacteria.
For example, many people like to eat soft-boiled eggs in normal times. These eggs are half-cooked food, and the bacteria in them are not disease-causing. If they are completely eliminated overnight, they will increase the risk of abdominal pain and diarrhea.
However, there is no problem that fully cooked eggs can be stored for more than 48 hours, so when eating eggs, it is best to fully cook the eggs. Of course, even if it is not harmful to the body, do not eat lotus leaf food, after all, the value will be reduced.
4
How to store leftovers?
. You should try to reduce the turning of leftovers with chopsticks and other utensils. After packing in a safe and reliable fresh-keeping box, seal it and place it in the low-temperature area of the refrigerator to eat it as soon as possible.
2. For leftovers, it is best to pack and store them in categories to avoid cross-contamination and odor.
3. You can put small labels on leftovers to mark the storage time. In addition, a small amount of food should be prepared according to the number of people eating and the amount of food each time to reduce the existence of leftovers.
4. When eating leftovers, we should adhere to the principle of not leaving meat but not vegetables, because vegetables will produce more nitrites during storage, and some nutrients will be lost, but meat will not change much.
