1. Unmarinated pickles and rotten cabbage: If the amount of salt is not enough when pickling the vegetables, and the pickling time is less than 8 days, the vegetables are not pickled thoroughly, which may cause nitrite poisoning; rotten cabbage is rotten Chinese cabbage, which will It makes people hypoxic, causing headache, dizziness, nausea, abdominal distension, etc. In severe cases, cramps, coma, and even life-threatening will occur.
2. Green seaweed: poisonous and inedible.
3. Fat rootless bean sprouts: In the production process of rootless bean sprouts, more herbicides are applied, so that the grown bean sprouts have no roots, and the herbicides contain harmful substances that cause cancer, teratogenicity and mutagenesis; fat bean sprouts It is made with chemical fertilizers, and there is a large amount of ammonia remaining in it. Under the action of bacteria, nitrosamines will be produced. Eating a large amount will cause dizziness, nausea, and vomiting.
4. Fresh broad beans: After eating, it may cause allergic hemolytic syndrome, general fatigue, anemia and other symptoms.
Under-salted pickles and rotten cabbage: Bad, but not so poisonous
All plants contain nitrates and nitrites. The current scientific research results generally believe that nitrate itself is non-toxic, and if nitrite enters the human body in large quantities, it may cause methemoglobinemia, causing the blood to lose the ability to carry oxygen, resulting in symptoms of hypoxia, which may be life-threatening in severe cases. . A broader concern with nitrite is its potential conversion in the body to nitrosamines, which are carcinogens.
All diets, water, meat, vegetables, fruits inevitably contain nitrates and nitrites. According to statistics from Europe, America and other countries, vegetables are the main source of nitrate in a normal diet, and nitrite is often related to the transformation of nitrate. Under normal circumstances, the content of nitrate and nitrite in vegetables is quite different from the dose that is harmful to the human body. However, under the action of certain bacteria, nitrate will be reduced to nitrite.
The process of making various pickled vegetables is a process of bacterial growth. In this process, "good bacteria" such as lactic acid bacteria and acetic acid bacteria convert sugar into lactic acid or acetic acid, thereby turning vegetables into pickles or sauerkraut that people need, while "bad bacteria" produce nitrite.
Under natural fermentation conditions, the amount of good bacteria and bad bacteria is not large at the beginning. "Pickling conditions" such as adding salt, airtightness, and low temperature can help good bacteria grow and inhibit bad bacteria. During fermentation, good bacteria produce acid, which lowers the pH, while bad bacteria produce nitrite. As the fermentation progresses, the pH of the environment gets lower and lower, making it harder for bad bacteria to survive. In the end, the good bacteria won a big victory, and the bad bacteria were wiped out. Subsequently, the nitrite produced before the destruction of bad bacteria will be gradually decomposed and removed. Taking pickled cabbage in Northeast China as an example, the nitrite concentration produced by bad bacteria reaches the highest level after seven or eight days of pickling, then gradually decreases, and will drop to a very low level after 20 days, which is basically harmless to the human body. If you eat unsalted sauerkraut or pickles, it may cause food poisoning.
The situation of rotten cabbage is similar to that of pickles and sauerkraut. It’s just that during the rotting process of cabbage, there are no methods to inhibit bad bacteria and support good bacteria, such as adding salt and sealing, so bad bacteria are rampant, and the concentration of nitrite may be higher.
However, nitrite is not as "toxic" as the rumors say. It is a commonly used preservative. According to Chinese national standards, the allowable content in different meat products is not exactly the same, generally tens of milligrams per kilogram. The American standard is 200 milligrams per kilogram, but it is required to add 550 milligrams of vitamin C at the same time to prevent the formation of nitrosamines. In the pickling process of sauerkraut, the change of nitrite content is a process from low to high and then reduced. At the highest point, it may reach more than 100 milligrams per kilogram, and at the end it is completely marinated, and it can drop to a few milligrams per kilogram. Therefore, although rotten cabbage may cause food poisoning, its danger is far less than what the rumors say, and it is even less likely to be "more poisonous than arsenic".
Conclusion: Partially correct. Rumors exaggerate the fact that unsalted pickles, sauerkraut and rotten cabbage are indeed harmful. They may contain high nitrites and may cause food poisoning, but generally speaking, eating them will not kill you like the legend.
Of course, rotten vegetables should still be avoided in the daily diet.
Nori Turning Green: Normal, Not Harmful
The reason why seaweed is purple is that it contains a special pigment protein called phycoerythrin. This pigment is an essential tool for seaweed to live in seawater. Different from the lighting environment on land, long-wave light (such as red, orange, and yellow light) in sunlight is absorbed when it reaches a depth of several meters in sea water, and only green light and blue light with shorter wavelengths can penetrate deep into sea water. Plants like Porphyra that live in deep seawater need to use these short-wave light, for which they "customized" phycoerythrin that can efficiently absorb green and blue light.
Phycoerythrin can be dissolved in water. Moreover, this pigment protein is unstable and easily decomposes when exposed to heat. Therefore, when we cook soup, the laver that loses phycoerythrin loses its original purple color.
However, after removing the phycoerythrin, the laver did not become colorless and transparent, but turned green. This is because in addition to phycoerythrin laver also contains pigments such as chlorophyll, carotene and lutein. Among them, chlorophyll content is the highest. As the saying goes, "There are no tigers in the mountains, and monkeys are called kings", the chlorophyll that replaces the phycoerythrin will "turn" laver green. Of course, these green pigments are the same as the chlorophyll in common vegetables such as spinach, rapeseed, and cabbage, and naturally they are not toxic.
Those seaweeds stored for a long time will turn green due to the gradual degradation of phycoerythrin, which is also a normal phenomenon and will not produce toxins. In fact, under natural circumstances, there are even genetic mutations in some laver, which partially or completely lose phycoerythrin and turn into green laver.
The connection between turning green and poisonous is probably derived from the fact that potatoes turn green. However, it is a bit nonsensical to press it on the laver. Using the shade of purple as a criterion for judging the quality of nori is likely to be counterproductive—if someone exploits this psychology of consumers and dyes nori in dark colors with pigments, then that kind of nori can really become a poisonous trap.
Conclusion: rumors crushed. The greening of seaweed is just that the phycoerythrin in it is degraded and the chlorophyll reveals its true appearance, so it can be eaten as it is.
Fat, rootless sprouts: innocent auxins
Rumors mention that herbicides and chemical fertilizers are used on fat and rootless bean sprouts, which is completely taken for granted. In order to produce fat bean sprouts, people do use plant auxins, but are such bean sprouts "poisonous bean sprouts"? Let's first understand the growth process of bean sprouts.
When bean sprouts germinate, the first thing to grow is the radicle. This organ bears the heavy responsibility of absorbing water and divides vigorously. The cells are relatively small and the water content is low, so the taste is not so satisfactory. Relatively speaking, the hypocotyl, which is the main body of bean sprouts, is much more popular. The cells here are well hydrated and will give us a crisp taste. Can you make the hypocotyls with good taste, that is, the stems of bean sprouts longer? Therefore, some people turn to phytohormones that "shape" the shape of plants.
During plant growth, the germ itself secretes auxins, and indole acetic acid is one of them. Different parts of the embryo are affected by different concentrations of auxin. The radicle and germ require a lower concentration of auxin, while the hypocotyl (that is, the bean sprout stalk) requires a higher concentration. Therefore, spraying an appropriate concentration of auxin, on the one hand, can promote the growth of bean sprout stalks, and on the other hand, it can also inhibit the growth of roots and sprouts, and achieve the goal of more stalks and fewer roots.
At present, the frequently used exogenous hormone (different from the "endogenous hormone" secreted by the plant itself) is 2,4-D, which is an analog of indole acetic acid, but in the case of excessive dosage, it may cause human Poisoning (damage to the stomach and liver), the reported acute poisoning dose in mouse experiments is 500 mg per kilogram of body weight, so there are strict regulations on its use.
High concentrations of 2,4-D can indeed be used as a herbicide, but if the herbicide dose is added to the bean sprouts, even the bean sprouts will not grow. In fact, in addition to promoting the growth of hypocotyls, 2,4-D can also increase the fruit setting rate and reduce flower and fruit drop, so it is widely used in the production of melons and fruits and vegetables. At these times, its identity is not a plant killer.
In addition, gibberellins and cytokinins are used to make bean sprouts thicker. Gibberellin can promote cell elongation, while cytokinin can promote rapid cell division, and can also inhibit the development of lateral roots, resulting in smoother and more attractive bean sprouts. It must be stated that these plant hormones are completely out of touch with human hormones, and will not cause reactions such as precocious puberty. Both gibberellin and the most commonly used cytokinin, 6-benzyladenine (6-BA), are considered to be of very low toxicity to humans. Especially gibberellin, which is widely used, has no poisoning reaction when oral administration of 25,000 mg per kg body weight is performed in mice. As long as you don't eat these things as food, it's hard to get caught.
Special attention should be paid to the fact that plants are much more sensitive than us, and if the amount of application is too large, it will affect the growth of bean sprouts (I also hope that unscrupulous merchants can understand this). According to the local standard of Beijing "Safety and Sanitation Requirements for Bean Sprouts", the residual amount of 2,4-D per kilogram of bean sprouts must be less than 0.1 mg, the residual amount of gibberellin should be less than 0.5 mg, and the residual amount of 6-benzyl adenine must be less than 0.1 mg. The amount is below 0.2 mg. As long as it is used correctly, we don't have to worry too much.
In addition, it is actually a thankless task to apply chemical fertilizers when bean sprouts are growing, because this stage is to transfer the nutrients stored in the seeds to the rapidly developing radicle, hypocotyl and germ. Therefore, there is no need to worry about eating bean sprouts stained with chemical fertilizers. When the green leaves in the germ really grow, they need external mineral supply and start self-sufficient nutrient production. And the bean sprouts we eat have become a delicious meal on the table before they have time to unfold their green leaves. Since there is no chemical fertilizer, there is no way to talk about what is decomposed into nitrite.
Conclusion: rumors crushed. The harmful chemical fertilizers mentioned in the rumors did not exist, and those abnormally stubby and rootless bean sprouts were probably treated with plant hormones such as auxin and cytokinin during production. As for 2,4-D, which has dual identities as a plant growth agent and a herbicide, it should not be used according to the regulations (of course, the small actions of unscrupulous merchants cannot be ruled out). But in fact, as long as the producer controls it properly, the residual amount of these plant hormones in the product does not exceed the standard, and it will not have a significant impact on the human body. However, from a safety point of view, it is still prudent to buy bean sprouts with too thick and short stems and no obvious roots.
Fresh Broad Beans: Really Bad for Some People
Broad beans may indeed cause allergic symptoms of hemolysis, also known as "favismia." Current research suggests that fabadine (a type of nucleotide) contained in broad beans, such as nicaine, interferes with the normal operation of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD), which is responsible for maintaining the normal function of hemoglobin The key factor, which causes red blood cells to rupture, triggers "broad bean hemolysis" disease. However, the vast majority of people have sufficient G-6-PD in their bodies, and broad beans will only serve as good food obediently. Therefore, fava beans are only "dangerous food" for those who are genetically deficient in G-6-PD.
For these people, the risk of symptoms from eating raw fresh fava beans is highest, and children are at a higher risk than adults. During the storage process, broad bean pyrimidine will be gradually oxidized and degraded, so the probability of dry broad beans causing favism disease is indeed lower, but it is not completely safe. Occasionally, symptoms may even be triggered by inhalation of fava bean pollen in some patients. For most people, though, there is no such risk.
The misconception about beans may be that they contain some so-called "anti-nutrients", such as protease inhibitors and saponins, and plant toxins, such as lectins.
Protease inhibitors are not substantially toxic, but they can inhibit the activity of proteases, thereby reducing the efficiency of protein digestion and absorption, so they are traditionally regarded as negative examples. However, some new research has found that certain protease inhibitors have positive health effects. For example, Bowman-Burke trypsin inhibitor (BBI) can exert anti-cancer effect when taken orally; while saponin is mainly because of its good foaming performance, which brings some troubles to the processing of soybean products, but for the human body, it Does not cause significant toxicity.
What's really toxic in beans is the lectins. This toxin is present in many types of legumes in varying amounts. Red kidney beans have the highest content, up to 20,000 to 70,000 units. In theory, as long as four or five can cause poisoning symptoms; white kidney beans are relatively low, about 1/3 of red kidney beans; and the legend is "more poisonous than arsenic" The content in broad beans is only 5% to 10% of that in red kidney beans. However, plant lectins are sensitive to temperature, and after being fully cooked, their activity will be greatly reduced, and the content is only 200400 units. It should be noted that if the heating is not sufficient, the toxicity will be higher. Heating to 80°C will increase its activity several times, which is worse than eating it raw. Some people are used to stewing beans in a slow cooker. In fact, the temperature of the slow cooker is not high. Even after a long stew, the interior of the beans may not reach the temperature required to inactivate the lectins.
However, lectins usually do not cause fatal consequences, the main symptoms are severe nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. Under normal circumstances, these symptoms can be relieved and recovered in a short time.
Conclusion: Partially correct. For those who suffer from "faba bean disease", fresh broad beans are indeed not a good food, but for ordinary people, there is no need to have such concerns. The content of other substances that may cause health risks in broad beans, such as plant lectins, is not high. As long as they are handled properly, broad beans are still delicious and safe food.
