Summer and seafood go better together, but the premise is to eat them right

On summer nights in the city, the streets are brightly lit and crowded with people. Rows of "snack streets" are constantly emitting the aroma of various foods, and the most irresistible one is seafood! Grilled squid, grilled oysters, grilled prawns, and juicy yellow clams... Everyone lined up and waved their hands as if they had made an appointment, making people salivate.

It’s hard to resist the enthusiasm for seafood, but don’t be in a hurry. If you want to eat safely, happily and healthily, you still need to clarify some issues first.

01 Are seafood and fruit poisoning when mixed together? It's just unnecessary worry

"Seafood contains arsenic, and fruit contains vitamin C. Eating the two together will produce arsenic and cause poisoning!" This rumor has a solid mass base, but what is the reality? It's just unnecessary worry!

According to the provisions of my country's national standard "Limits of Contaminants in Food", the maximum limit of inorganic arsenic in aquatic animals is 0.5 mg/kg, while the oral lethal dose of arsenic (arsenic trioxide) for adults is about 100 mg, and the arsenic element in 100 mg of arsenic is 75 mg.

▲Image source: GB 2762-2017 Limits of Contaminants in Food

So let's take prawns as an example:

If you eat prawns and fruits together, to reach the lethal dose of arsenic, you need to eat about 150 kilograms of prawns at a time. Normal people can't eat this amount at all. Even if they can eat it, they will die of bloating before being poisoned. In addition, most of the arsenic contained in seafood is stable organic arsenic, and the extremely small amount of inorganic arsenic in it will be metabolized by the body quickly after eating, and will not cause any harm.

Maybe some people will say: "But I got diarrhea because I ate seafood and fruit. Even if I'm not poisoned, it's because they are incompatible, right?" Let's review again. The theory of "food incompatibility" does not exist at all. The most likely reason for diarrhea after eating seafood and fruit is because of seafood.

This is caused by the fresh food not being handled cleanly or not being cooked thoroughly.

02 Can you drink beer while eating seafood? Don’t try

Are you eating so much that you always feel like you are missing something if you don’t have two glasses of beer? Listen carefully: eating seafood and drinking beer is a very bad eating habit! You know, these two are old partners who can cause gout attacks. In front of health, let’s change to a more enjoyable way!

A detailed explanation: Most seafood is high in purine (the purine content is 150~1000mg/100g) [1]. Excessive intake of high-purine foods can significantly affect the body's blood uric acid level and increase the incidence of hyperuricemia (HUA) [2]. This is one of the reasons why it is not recommended to eat too much seafood at one time. The purine content of common seafood is as follows:

Grilled Spanish mackerel (total purine: 452mg/100g)

Mackerel (total purine: 258mg/100g)

Baked cod (total purine: 230 mg/100 g)

Sea bass (total purine: 227 mg/100 g)

Salmon (total purine: 168 mg/100 g)

Yellow croaker (total purine: 165mg/100g)

Crayfish (total purine: 174mg/100g)

Oysters (total purine: 242 mg/100 g)

Squid (total purine: 244mg/100g)

…

Secondly, although beer itself does not contain a high amount of purine, it contains a relatively high amount of guanylic acid, which will be metabolized in the body to produce a large amount of purine, thereby increasing the blood uric acid concentration.

Therefore, if seafood and beer are eaten together, it can be said to be "adding insult to injury" and will further promote the onset of gout, especially for people with abnormal uric acid levels. It is even more dangerous! If you don't have a problem with high uric acid, it's not a big problem to drink a little beer when eating seafood occasionally, but it is still not recommended to take the risk.

03 Is it more nutritious to eat seafood raw? For safety reasons, it is better to cook it well

Salmon sashimi, drunken shrimp, drunken crab... many people start drooling when they hear about it. In addition to the original taste, people also believe that such original seafood has not been cooked at high temperatures, so the nutrition is more and more comprehensive. However, from the perspective of food safety

From this perspective, we do not recommend eating raw seafood.

There are frequent reports of cases of parasite infection from eating raw seafood[3]. Aquatic products can easily carry parasites, such as Anisakis, liver fluke, and sparganosis. Simply dipping the seafood in mustard or marinating it in wine is not enough to kill the parasites.

In addition, uncooked seafood may contain pathogenic bacteria, such as Listeria monocytogenes, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Salmonella, etc. They enter the body along with raw seafood and may cause food poisoning.

Among raw seafood, salmon fillet is the most common restaurant delicacy, but many salmon on the market are actually rainbow trout. Rainbow trout ≠ salmon, it is a freshwater fish with a relatively high risk of parasites. Real salmon is Atlantic salmon that is farmed in a regular manner. In order to reduce the risk of parasites, it will also undergo special treatments, such as freezing. Even so, whether it is real salmon or an imposter rainbow trout, it is recommended that you cook it before eating. In terms of safety, it is still better to

The principle of "rather kill someone innocently than let him go" should be followed.

In fact, compared with salmon, rainbow trout is not less nutritious. Its fat content is only half that of salmon, while the protein content of the two is similar, both around 20%, making it more suitable for those who need to lose weight and control their weight.

04 How much seafood is appropriate to eat?

According to surveys, the current intake of fish and shrimp by Chinese residents is relatively low. In 2002, the average per capita intake of fish and shrimp was 29.6 g/d. By 2012, although the overall meat intake had increased, the average per capita intake of fish and shrimp had decreased to only 23.7 g/d[4], which is still far from the recommended amount in the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents.

So what is the recommended amount? The daily intake of seafood is 40-75g, which is roughly equivalent to a palm of fish, seven or eight large shrimps, seven or eight clams, and about 15 normal-sized razor clams.

Let's take a look at the relevant recommendations from abroad: On January 18, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the final version of fish consumption recommendations, recommending eating 227-340g of low-mercury fish per week. As for which fish are recommended to eat, please see the following figure:

▲Image source: U.S. FDA fish consumption recommendations

Summary: For friends who like to eat seafood, it is recommended to first choose low-mercury fish, and it is appropriate to consume 40~75g of seafood per day.

Don’t worry about it being poisonous when eaten with fruits. The saying of “food incompatibility” has no scientific basis at all. You can eat it safely as long as it is cooked thoroughly.

Try not to drink beer when eating seafood. Not only will it increase the incidence of gout, but drinking will also increase the risk of liver cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer and other cancers.

References:

[1] Yang Yuexin, Ge Keyou. Chinese Nutrition Science Encyclopedia 2nd Edition (Volume 2)[M]. People's Medical Publishing House, 2019

[2] Xu Lihua. Research progress on the relationship between purine content in food and hyperuricemia[J]. Chinese Journal of Urban and Rural Enterprise Health, 2020, v.35;No.219(01):32-34.

[3] Li Yanrong, Li Lisha, Jiang Dianwei, et al. A case report of Diphyllobothrium latum infection after eating raw salmon[J]. Chinese Journal of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, 2013, 31(006):494-494.

[4] Chinese Nutrition Society. Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents[M]. People's Medical Publishing House, 2016

Author | Xue Qingxin, member of Chinese Nutrition Society, registered nutrition technician, health manager, public nutritionist

Review | Gao Chao, Associate Researcher, Institute of Nutrition and Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention

This article was first published on the Science Refutation Platform