“Health from Food” Series | Can you eat “pure natural food” with confidence?

Many people are worried that adding preservatives to food will harm their health, so those foods that claim to be "preservative-free" have been sought after by a large number of consumers. But can we eat foods without preservatives safely? Let's take a look at it today.

No preservatives does not mean no other additives

Preservatives are widely used in food because they can effectively prevent food from spoiling caused by microorganisms, thereby extending the shelf life of food. Many food safety issues can be said to be caused by the failure to add preservatives as required. Moreover, if you carefully check the ingredient list of these "no preservatives added" foods, you can find that although some products are nominally free of preservatives, pigments, flavors, etc., they contain emulsifiers, citric acid, sodium citrate, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, malic acid, gluconic acid, sodium glutamate, calcium chloride, vitamin C and other ingredients.

A lot of salt and sugar can play a role in preservation but are not healthy

Most foods have a shelf life, and foods that are not processed in any way cannot be preserved for a long time. Many products labeled as preservative-free often have higher salt or sugar content than similar products. Some pickles, sauces, pickles, candied fruits, etc., which are often claimed to be preservative-free, are usually very salty and even covered up with sugar. The health hazards of large amounts of sugar/salt are much more serious than a few tenths of a percent of preservatives. For example: excessive salt intake will increase the burden on the liver and kidneys, may increase the incidence of gastric cancer and colorectal cancer, and cause cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, especially an increased risk of hypertension; while excessive sugar intake can easily lead to obesity, heart disease, hypertension, vascular sclerosis, cerebral hemorrhage, diabetes, etc.

Some foods don’t need to worry about adding preservatives

The first is dried food. When dried to a certain degree, microorganisms cannot grow. For example, beans, nuts, grains, noodles, milk powder, dried fish, bean curd sticks and other foods can be stored for a long time at room temperature without adding preservatives. The second is frozen food. For example, various quick-frozen foods, microorganisms are difficult to reproduce in low temperature environments, so these products do not need to add preservatives.

How to remedy excessive intake of sugar/salt processed foods

Remedy for eating too much sugar: Adjust your diet. Next, you can eat less sugary substances, including refined carbohydrates and fruits with high sugar content. Eat more bitter melon, because bitter melon contains proteins that have similar functions to insulin, which can help lower blood sugar levels. Try to use steaming and boiling as much as possible.

Remedies for excessive salt intake: Eat more foods rich in potassium. Common vegetables such as celery, mugwort, lily, malan, coriander, bitter melon, spinach, etc., and common fruits such as coconut, dates, longan, apple, watermelon, grapes, oranges, strawberries, etc. are all high-potassium and low-sodium foods, which are conducive to the excretion of sodium ions and maintain ion balance in the body.

Of course, whether it is sugar or salt, the simplest and most convenient way is to increase physical exercise. Aerobic exercise such as 40 minutes of jogging is conducive to consuming the sugar just ingested and helping the body consume calories, so as to achieve a balance between intake and consumption of calories. At the same time, exercise can promote a lot of sweating, achieving the effect of excreting sodium.

Author: Xu Jingwen and Lei Zhiyuan from Luoyang Normal University

Review expert: Ren Yongqiang, professor/chief physician of the First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Science and Technology