Among the four seasons, winter is the best time for hot pot. Watching the ingredients roll in the broth, thinking about the delicious and spicy taste, even on a cold winter day, it's filled with warmth and steam. When eating hot pot, most people put all the ingredients in the same pot to cook. However, from the perspective of health experts, this may pose an unexpected carcinogenic risk.
Cooking vegetables and meat together in one pot produces carcinogens
Taiwanese health expert Pan Huaizong mentions in his book "Don't Let Your Body Be Unhappy" that the correct way to eat hot pot ingredients is to use a yin-yang pot, that is, one pot dedicated to cooking vegetables and another pot only for scalding meat and seafood. Don't throw everything into one pot to cook slowly.
Pan Huaizong explains that vegetables may contain nitrites due to the use of nitrogen fertilizers. If cooked with meat and seafood, the protein and amino acids in the meat will combine with the nitrites in the vegetables to form nitrosamines, which are carcinogenic.
Try to control the hot pot session to within one hour
Jin Xiaojing, director of the Gastroenterology Department at Nanjing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, explains that many people also like to drink hot pot soup. However, from a medical perspective, drinking hot pot soup is not recommended because the repeated boiling increases the purine content. Many people will experience a transient increase in uric acid, and patients with a history of gout may even have a gout attack after eating hot pot. A professional academic survey shows that the longer the hot pot cooks, the higher the nitrite content. The production of nitrites is not only related to the cooking time but also to the ingredients. Processed foods like pickled vegetables, sausages, and luncheon meat contain nitrites and should not be consumed in excess. Vegetables should also be eaten while fresh, as cooking them for too long will also produce nitrites. The duration of the hot pot meal should be controlled to within one hour. If you want to taste the soup, do not drink the "end soup".
In addition, hot pot is high in temperature and rich in flavor. After eating, many people not only experience gastrointestinal discomfort but also get mouth sores, swollen gums, and even burns or esophageal injuries. Once invisible esophageal injuries occur, coupled with repeated food stimulation, it can easily lead to reflux esophagitis.
Director Jin Xiaojing explains that if the hot pot is cooked for more than an hour, the nitrite content in the broth increases. Repeatedly stimulating the gastrointestinal tract causes digestive fluids like gastric juice, bile, and pancreatic juice to secrete continuously, leading to gastrointestinal dysfunction and chronic gastritis and other diseases.
Order of eating: raw and cooked, start with starches
It is recommended to eat in an orderly manner when having hot pot. Before eating, it is advisable to have some starchy foods first, such as potatoes or sweet potatoes. This can not only control your food intake but also protect your stomach. It is recommended to blanch vegetables before eating meat. Do not be greedy for tenderness and lose control of the cooking time, especially with raw meat and raw fish, which should not be taken out of the pot immediately after a quick dip. It is best to prepare two extra pairs of chopsticks: one for cooked food and one for raw food, to prevent bacteria or parasite eggs in the meat from directly entering the digestive tract and causing gastrointestinal infections.