Many office workers bring their own bentos for lunch, often with leftovers from the previous night, which poses health risks. So, can you eat leftover vegetables the next day? The editor shares some healthy eating tips!
Cooked food contains oil and salt. After sitting overnight, the vitamins in the food oxidize, causing a significant increase in nitrite content. Once in the stomach, this converts to nitrites. While nitrates are not directly carcinogenic, they are a major health hazard. After entering the stomach, under specific conditions, nitrites can form a substance called N-Nitroso compounds (NC), which is one of the risk factors for inducing stomach cancer. Especially in hot weather, leftover food can be contaminated by bacteria, which multiply rapidly, easily causing gastroenteritis and food poisoning. If you plan to cook extra food to reheat the next day, you should try to avoid stem and leafy vegetables and choose gourd vegetables instead.
Generally, stem and leafy vegetables have the highest nitrate content, gourd vegetables are slightly lower, and root and stem vegetables and cauliflower-type vegetables are in the middle. Therefore, if you buy a large quantity of vegetables at once, you should eat the leafy varieties first, such as Chinese cabbage and spinach. If you plan to cook extra food to reheat the next day, you should try to avoid stem and leafy vegetables and choose gourd vegetables instead.