These four habits when cooking may double the carcinogens!

This article was reviewed by Liu Shaowei, Deputy Director and Professor of Food and Drug Regulatory Research Center, East China University of Science and Technology

Nowadays, there are many people who often eat out and order takeout, but at the same time, the number of people with chronic diseases is also growing. Studies have found that the more times people eat out and the denser the fast food restaurants in the community, the higher the risk of obesity and diabetes!

Therefore, whether from the perspective of health or nutrition, it is more recommended to cook at home. However, the editor would like to remind everyone that there are hidden dangers behind the fragrant kitchen and the frying pan.

Have you ever made any of these cooking mistakes?

There are four taboos in preparing ingredients

Otherwise, nutrients will be lost and bacteria will grow.

1

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Avoid soaking for a long time, cut before washing

Many people think that soaking fruits and vegetables for a while, or cutting them into small pieces, will make them cleaner, but this is not necessarily the case...

Soaking vegetables in water can indeed remove some residual pesticides and impurities, but long-term soaking may allow some bacteria to penetrate into the vegetables, causing secondary pollution and also lose some water-soluble vitamins in the vegetables.

Especially after the vegetables are chopped, the contact area with water is larger, the chance of contamination increases, and more nutrients are lost, so it is recommended to wash them before cutting.

2

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Avoid excessive peeling

A large part of the nutrition of fruits and vegetables is in the skin, including dietary fiber, vitamins, chlorophyll, etc. Studies have also shown that the antioxidant activity in the skin of most fruits is 2 to 27 times higher than that in the flesh. Excessive peeling can easily lead to nutrient waste.

Moreover, after losing the skin, fruits and vegetables oxidize faster, and the loss of vitamins during cooking is more serious. Therefore, it is recommended that you try not to peel or peel as little as possible.

It is best to go to regular supermarkets or markets to buy fruits and vegetables, which can avoid the problem of pesticide residues to a certain extent.

3

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Avoid washing raw meat with running water

During the transportation and storage process, the surface of raw meat may be contaminated with some bacteria, viruses, etc. If you rinse the raw meat directly with a faucet, not only will it fail to kill the microorganisms on it, but the splashing water will also cause them to contaminate the kitchen sink, cutting board, and tableware!

As long as water splashes, germs may spread there, and some foods may be easily cross-contaminated, especially raw foods, which may pose a safety hazard.

Recommendation: When handling fresh food, soak it in salt water for about 10 to 15 minutes, then rinse it with small running water. Wear disposable gloves and a mask if necessary.

4

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Avoid cutting vegetables on different cutting boards

Many families only have one chopping board, and they use this one board for both cooked and raw food, which is relatively more likely to cause diseases such as diarrhea and gastroenteritis.

When cutting raw food, bacteria in the food will remain on the cutting board, and some raw food may contain more bacteria and parasite eggs. When raw and cooked food are mixed, the bacterial contamination on the cutting board will be more serious, and even the food will be contaminated.

Therefore, keep raw and cooked cutting boards separate, disinfect them regularly, and replace them every six months.

Washing and cutting vegetables can lead to mistakes, and cooking is even more prone to mistakes...

Four mistakes when cooking

May double the amount of carcinogens

In my country, lung cancer has been at the top of the list of malignant tumor mortality and morbidity for 10 consecutive years! A large proportion of these people have no history of smoking, and the main reason is oil smoke.

A research institute collected oil fume samples from residents' homes for analysis and detected more than 220 chemical substances, many of which are lung toxic, immunotoxic, genotoxic or potentially carcinogenic.

It is difficult to avoid cooking fumes, but many small habits will double the fumes!

1

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Put the water into the pot without draining it

If the water of the ingredients is not drained when frying, the oil will splash violently the moment it comes into contact with the oil, and quickly vaporize into many tiny particles. The PM2.5 value is higher than that of frying. Inhaling these tiny particles is likely to cause damage to the lungs, such as pneumonia or even lung cancer.

2

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Temperature is too high

Many people like to wait until the oil is hot and smoking before putting the vegetables in when cooking, but this practice often produces more smoke when cooking, and will also generate more harmful substances and carcinogens.

The smoke point of general cooking oil does not exceed 180℃. If the oil pan smokes, it means the temperature is too high.

When starchy foods are exposed to high temperatures, they are prone to produce acrylamide, a Class 2A carcinogen.

When protein-rich foods are exposed to high temperatures, they are prone to produce heterocyclic amine compounds, which are strong carcinogens that can accumulate in the body, gradually reduce immune function, and have the potential to induce tumors in various parts of the body.

When fatty foods are exposed to high temperatures, they are likely to produce carcinogens such as benzopyrene.

Therefore, it is recommended to cook with a hot pan and cold oil, which is safer.

3

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Continue frying without cleaning the pan

In order to save time, many people cook the next dish without washing the pot after cooking the previous one.

But the seemingly clean pot actually has grease and food residues on the surface. When heated again at high temperature, the food residues can easily burn and produce gases that are harmful to the human body. In addition, the remaining grease is more likely to release carcinogens after being heated again.

4

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The range hood switch time is incorrect

For the sake of their own health, now almost every household will install a range hood, but it does not mean that everything will be fine after installing a range hood. If it is not used correctly, it may be equivalent to not installing it.

When the oil smoke is visible to the naked eye, harmful substances have already evaporated in large quantities, so the range hood should be turned on before turning on the fire; after cooking, the oil smoke will not dissipate immediately, there will still be a lot of it suspended in the air, spreading and attaching to kitchen items, so it is more appropriate to turn off the range hood 20 minutes after turning off the fire.

Healthy cooking, master 2 tips

1

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Choose the right cooking method

High temperature is the main cause of oil smoke. Therefore, if you want to reduce oil smoke, it is best to choose steaming, boiling, and mixing. However, Chinese cuisine is rich and colorful. If you always do this, you will definitely not be able to enjoy the delicious taste you want. So when frying, deep-frying, and baking, you must learn to master some tips to reduce the harm:

① When stir-frying, heat the pan with cold oil and stir-fry quickly over high heat; you can also blanch the food until half-cooked before stir-frying to reduce the time of high-temperature cooking.

② When frying food, you can cook the food first to shorten the frying time; you can also use batter to isolate some of the temperature; you should use fresh oil every time.

③ When grilling, do not use open charcoal, use an electric grill instead; wrap the food with tin foil to protect it from "smoke and fire"; grilled food can be marinated with onions, ginger, garlic, lemon juice, etc., which can reduce the production of heterocyclic amines during grilling.

2

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Add vinegar to retain vitamin C

Vinegar is a sour condiment, which is usually added only when cooking with vinegar, sweet and sour, etc. In fact, vinegar can be added during the cooking process of many dishes.

Because vitamin C in food can block the formation of nitroso compounds (a substance that can cause digestive tract cancer). Vinegar can not only protect vitamin C from being destroyed, but also promote its absorption.

Source: I am a great doctor official account