October has passed, and 2020 is coming to an end, but all kinds of rumors do not seem to stop: this winter will be the coldest winter in 60 years, eating soaked food will cause poisoning, infusion can prevent stroke, milk tea contains a lot of trans fatty acids, and fruits are sweet because of the addition of cyclamate … … Are these rumors true or false?
Myth 1: This winter will be the coldest winter in 60 years.
During the National Day this year, the temperature dropped significantly in many places in China, with some areas in the central and eastern regions dropping more than 12 degrees Celsius, and snowfall occurred in scenic spots such as Laojun Mountain and Baiyun Mountain in Henan Province. The circle of friends began to spread: "This winter will be the coldest winter in 60 years", "This year will be the coldest year since 2008" and "All this is related to La Nina".
Truth: Whether it will be cold or warm this winter needs to be comprehensively judged on the basis of scientific analysis, not by several snowfalls.
Zhai Yu, a meteorologist of China Meteorological Bureau, explained that La Nina refers to the phenomenon of large-scale continuous abnormal cooling of seawater in the eastern and central equatorial Pacific Ocean. When the duration of the phenomenon of low temperature reaches a certain level, we call it a La Nina event.
"Whether it’s cold winter or warm winter, there are advantages and disadvantages. For example, warm winter is conducive to the survival of bacteria and viruses in the air, which increases our chances of getting sick. Moreover, due to the high temperature, the probability of snowfall is greatly reduced, resulting in exceptionally dry weather. At the same time, eggs in the soil are more prone to overwintering reproduction, or lead to large-scale insect disasters, which is not conducive to agricultural production. However, because the temperature is not so cold, our heating demand will be relatively reduced, which is conducive to saving energy. " Yu Yu said.
Zhai Yu introduced that in winter, patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases or hypertension, especially when the temperature drops suddenly or is particularly cold, the incidence rate will increase greatly. Therefore, it is necessary to pay special attention to the health problems of these elderly people during the cold winter.
Myth 2: Eating soaked food can cause poisoning.
Recently, the poisoning incident of "Sour Soup" occurred, which made rice yeast acid, a thing that people were not familiar with, frequently appear in public view. Therefore, many people began to worry about the safety of all kinds of soaked foods and refused all soaked foods for fear of being recruited.
Truth: Not all soaked foods contain mycotic acid, so there is no need to refuse all soaked foods. For some foods that may produce rice fermentation acid, as long as the soaking time is reasonable, poisoning can be avoided without excessive worry.
Xue Qingxin, a public nutritionist, said that the following foods are likely to produce rice yeast acid, and it is very important to soak and eat them reasonably in order to avoid poisoning. It is suggested that the soaking time of auricularia auricula should not exceed 4 hours and the water temperature should not exceed 30 degrees Celsius. Experiments show that the edge of auricularia auricula will crack after soaking for more than 6 hours, which not only seriously affects the quality of auricularia auricula, but also makes auricularia auricula more susceptible to microbial pollution.
The soaking time of river noodles and rice noodles in hot water should not exceed 20 minutes, and they should be boiled in boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes before eating. If it’s too much trouble, you can soak in cold water directly, then you have to soak for 4 hours.
Myth 3: Infusion can prevent stroke.
Many middle-aged and elderly people think that when the seasons alternate, going to the hospital for infusion can open blood vessels. As a result, many people go to the hospital for infusion as soon as winter comes, hoping to prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and stroke.
Truth: Chen Fei, an attending physician in the Department of Neurology, xuanwu hospital, Capital Medical University, said that stroke is a common name for acute cerebrovascular disease, and some people think that it can prevent cerebrovascular disease by infusing blood vessels every year, which is wrong.
Acute cerebrovascular diseases, including ischemic cerebrovascular diseases and cerebral hemorrhage. Head and neck vascular atherosclerosis, vascular stenosis occlusion or atrial fibrillation can all lead to ischemic cerebrovascular disease, and cerebral hemorrhage is caused by cerebral vascular rupture.
Most of the drugs that these middle-aged and elderly people go to the hospital are Chinese patent medicines with the function of "promoting blood circulation", which has no effect on controlling vascular stenosis and thrombosis. In addition, the "blood-activating" effect of infusion is also very short-lived, so stopping infusion will have no effect, and we can’t infuse every day.
So, how can we prevent cerebrovascular disease?
First of all, it is necessary to control the risk factors of stroke, including hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hyperhomocysteinemia and other diseases, as well as bad living habits such as smoking, drinking, obesity and inactivity. Only by comprehensively controlling these risk factors can we prevent stroke and reduce the risk of stroke.
Secondly, middle-aged and elderly people should be screened for stroke regularly, and whether there is stenosis of cervical blood vessels and cerebral blood vessels can be determined by ultrasound examination, and whether there is atrial fibrillation can be determined by electrocardiogram.
Doctors will make prevention plans for patients according to the results of stroke screening. This plan includes establishing good living habits and making reasonable dietary adjustments. At the same time, patients should take corresponding preventive drugs according to the doctor’s advice, including antiplatelet drugs and statins.
Myth 4: Milk tea contains a lot of trans fatty acids.
"The first cup of milk tea in early autumn" became popular, and a saying began to go crazy in the circle of friends: milk tea contains a lot of trans fatty acids, which is ruining the health of young people in China.
Truth: Any behavior of "talking about toxicity without measurement" is unscientific. The harm of trans fatty acids to health is the result of long-term accumulation. As long as you don’t eat more, the impact on health is controllable. The key is to control the amount.
Shen Yingjian, deputy chief physician of the Nutrition Department of the General Hospital of Jihua Group, said that trans fatty acids are the main reason why milk tea is criticized. According to media reports, trans fatty acids can be divided into natural and artificial according to their sources. What we usually call trans fatty acids refers to artificial trans fatty acids.
At present, people have some misunderstandings about trans fatty acids. In fact, trans fatty acids are not illegal additives or food additives, but a derivative produced by food enterprises when they produce partially hydrogenated fats. When hydrogenated fats are used as raw materials or auxiliary materials to produce food, trans fatty acids will be contained in the products.
Shen Yingjian said that the harm of trans fatty acids to health depends on how much you eat. The World Health Organization (WHO) suggested in 2003 that the energy supply ratio of human trans fatty acids should be lower than 1%. The report on dietary intake level and risk assessment of trans fatty acids among residents in China released in 2013 shows that the energy supply ratio of trans fatty acids consumed by residents in China is only 0.16%. In big cities like Beijing and Guangzhou, the energy supply ratio of trans fatty acids among residents is only 0.34%, and only 0.4% of urban residents’ intake exceeds the recommended value of the World Health Organization. In other words, most people’s daily intake of trans fatty acids does not exceed the recommended standard.
Myth 5: Melon fragrance is due to injection of sodium cyclamate.
The loveliness of autumn, in addition to the crisp autumn air, also has the fragrance of fruits and vegetables. However, many people have found that the fruit now seems to be sweeter than the fruit 10 years ago. There are even rumors recently that this is because fruit farmers inject cyclamate into the fruit to increase the sweetness in order to make the fruit sell at a good price. Is it true?/You don’t say.
Truth: Sodium cyclamate is a non-nutritive sweetener and an international food additive. It is cheap, which is 1/3 of the price of sucrose, but its sweetness is 30 to 40 times that of sucrose, so it is widely used in the processing fields of drinks, desserts, juices and other foods.
First of all, it should be clear that the use of sodium cyclamate will not affect our health as long as it is within the prescribed scope; Secondly, it is unlikely that "fruit farmers add cyclamate to their fruits to optimize their taste". Why?
You know, beating sodium cyclamate on the surface of fruit will not have any effect on the sweetness of fruit at all. This is because sodium cyclamate is soluble in water but insoluble in oil. Even if sodium cyclamate is sprayed on the surface of fruit, sodium cyclamate will not enter the interior of fruit, so there is no possibility of increasing sweetness.
If vendors want to sweeten the fruit by injection, they need to inject the fruit in all directions, not to mention the time-consuming and laborious operation itself, which will destroy the cell wall of the fruit and accelerate the decay of the fruit. In other words, for fruit farmers and fruit vendors, it is harmful to inject cyclamate into fruits at any link.
Since there is no injection of sodium cyclamate, why is the fruit getting sweeter and sweeter?
There are sucrose, glucose and fructose in fruits, among which fructose has the highest sweetness, followed by sucrose and glucose. In different fruits, the contents of these three components are different. For example, apples are mainly fructose, peaches and sugarcane are mainly sucrose, and the variety and quantity of sugar in fruits determine the difference in taste of different fruits.
In addition, the sweetness of fruit has a great relationship with the quality of plant leaves. Because the leaves of plants are "organs" that perform photosynthesis, its important task is to produce glucose, carbohydrates, various organic acids and other substances in photosynthesis. The more efficient leaves a plant has in the growth stage, the more nutrients it produces, the higher the efficiency of storing nutrients in the tree, and the corresponding improvement of fruit quality.
With the continuous breakthrough and innovative development of planting science, the favorable conditions for plant growth have been improved and guaranteed in a more comprehensive way, and the quality and taste of fruit have naturally been improved.
