As the weather gets colder, more and more people are eating hot pot, which has become a mainstream meal and is deeply popular. Everyone feels that hot pot is nourishing and warming, but recent experiments have found that food left boiling in the hot pot for a long time not only loses its nutrients, but the broth can also produce nitrites that are harmful to the human body. Hot pot is delicious, but be careful of the "toxic" aspects! Take a look at the taboos of eating hot pot below, and you'll know just how "risky" what you're eating is.
1. One heat is as good as three fresh delicacies
Manifestation: The delicious food from the steaming hot pot is picked up and put straight into the mouth, scalding the tongue until it goes numb and making the forehead sweat as people exclaim how thrilling it is, and they call it "one heat is as good as three fresh delicacies."
Harm: The oral cavity, esophagus, and stomach lining can generally only tolerate a temperature of 50°C. Food that is too hot will damage the mucous membranes. The temperature of hot pot broth can be as high as 120°C, and eating it as soon as it's taken out can easily scald the oral cavity, tongue, esophagus, and stomach lining. Some people who are prone to recurrent mouth sores may easily get "heatiness" after eating hot pot, and the chance of getting mouth sores increases several times, or the existing oral mucosal inflammation worsens.
Repeatedly doing so can also induce esophageal cancer. The most dangerous are those with precancerous lesions such as oral leukoplakia or lichen planus. The high temperature of the hot pot and the stimulation from the seasonings will aggravate these conditions.
Expert advice:
When eating hot pot, never be impatient. Take small portions of food from the pot and wait for it to cool down before eating. You should follow the principle: "It's better to give up the delicacies than to eat it too hot."
2. Undercooked is the most delicious
Manifestation: In pursuit of a fresh, crisp, and tender texture, food is only briefly swirled in the hot pot before being eaten.
Harm: This eating habit not only causes indigestion but also allows bacteria and parasite eggs hidden in the food to be swallowed into the gastrointestinal tract, leading to disease. According to research, three serious parasitic diseases—trichinosis, tapeworm, and cysticercosis—can be transmitted through hot pot. Unclean pork and beef slices are very likely to contain these three types of parasites.
Although it cannot be confirmed whether lamb contains trichinosis, tapeworm, or cysticercosis, there have been reports of people getting trichinosis from eating lamb hot pot. If you contract a parasitic disease, you will feel weak all over, have muscle aches, body swelling, and sometimes even feel a stabbing pain when you walk.
Expert advice:
When eating hot pot, make sure to cut the meat thinly and cook it for a long time. When swirling pork or beef slices, be sure to cook them through before eating. Also, check the meat slices for white, rice-like substances; if present, they could be cysticercosis eggs.
3. Hot pot broth is nutritious
Manifestation: Drinking all the leftover hot pot broth, considering it a "nutritious soup."
Harm: Most hot pot broths are made with high-fat substances like pig, sheep, or beef tallow, and are often seasoned with chili, pepper, and Sichuan peppercorns. Eating too much can easily lead to high blood lipids, gallstones, duodenal ulcers, mouth ulcers, gingivitis, hemorrhoids, and other diseases.
Furthermore, the hot pot broth that boils for a long time without being changed can cause some chemical reactions, producing harmful substances. For example, porphyrin substances from meat and seafood are mostly dissolved in the broth. The high concentration of porphyrin in the broth is metabolized by the liver, producing a large amount of nitric acid, which can cause gout and joint pain, and in severe cases, it can damage kidney function.
Expert advice:
Leftover ingredients and broth from a single meal should be discarded. If it is left in a copper hot pot overnight, do not eat it, as it is not only harmful to health but can also cause acute copper oxide poisoning.
4. Mixing cold and hot to "neutralize"
Manifestation: Taking a bite of spicy hot pot followed by a gulp of ice-cold beer is a popular way to eat hot pot for many, which they call "neutralizing."
Harm: The drastic change between hot and cold is extremely detrimental to the stomach lining and can easily cause gastrointestinal diseases.
Suggestion: When eating hot pot, try to avoid drinking cold beverages.
5. Enjoying leftover hot pot food
Manifestation: Continuing to eat the leftover hot pot dishes and broth from the previous night.
Harm: Hot pot broth should not be reused, and it is definitely not advisable to leave the leftover broth in the pot overnight. Otherwise, the nitrite content (a strong carcinogen) in the broth that has been boiled for a long time will increase, which is harmful to your health after consumption.
Expert advice:
When preparing food for hot pot, do not buy too much; just enough is good. Also, do not leave it overnight.
6. In the cold winter, we eat hot pot for the "atmosphere"
Manifestation: As the weather turns cold, watching the red and spicy broth in the pot, with the meat and vegetables constantly rolling, everyone chats and drinks, and a few hours pass in a flash. People get drunk and eat happily, all for the "atmosphere."
Harm: Hot pot broth that has been boiled for a long time is like boiling water. After a long time, more toxic and harmful substances are present, especially more nitrites and more purine substances. This conclusion was verified by the Public Nutritionist Branch of the Xi'an Nutrition Society. The experimental results found that as time passes, the content of the carcinogen nitrite in the hot pot broth continuously increases.
Especially after simmering for 90 minutes, the nitrite content will increase significantly. Doctors state that excessive nitrites entering the human body can form nitrosamines, which are recognized carcinogens. Such substances in the body can easily cause many diseases, such as gout and tumors.
Expert advice:
Pay attention to the cooking time of the hot pot. It is recommended to finish eating hot pot within an hour and a half, because ingredients simmered in the hot pot for too long can interact with other components to form nitrosamines. Therefore, it is best to use fresh ingredients and choose fewer processed foods like fish balls, crab sticks, and sausages.
It is also recommended not to add noodles to the hot pot broth, especially very strong broths. Because noodles are dry and need to absorb water to expand and cook, in this process, the noodles will absorb more harmful substances from the broth.
7. Let the spiciness come on even stronger
Manifestation: When it comes to hot pot, the numbing, spicy, and hot flavor is always the first choice because the feeling of being drenched in sweat from the spiciness is just too thrilling.
Harm: The damage that numbing and spicy hot pot inflicts on the gastrointestinal tract is not hard to imagine. The spicy taste of the hot pot first stimulates the esophagus, then quickly passes through the stomach and small intestine, severely irritating the gastrointestinal wall mucosa, causing stomach acid and bloating. Besides easily causing esophagitis and gastritis, diarrhea is also inevitable.
Office workers with a history of constipation or hemorrhoids should be more careful with what they eat. Otherwise, hemorrhoid patients are prone to relapse due to excessive congestion of the sphincter muscle around the anus caused by stimulation, and constipation patients will find themselves even more "blocked."
Expert advice:
Although everyone's tolerance for spiciness is different, for the sake of your gastrointestinal tract, doctors believe it's best to eat numbing and spicy hot pot less. Do not eat too much at once, and try to keep the seasonings mildly spicy and drink less of the spicy broth.
Additionally, after eating hot pot, drink more plain water or strong tea to dilute the spicy juices and reduce the stimulation to the stomach and intestines, which will make your gastrointestinal tract more comfortable. If you feel any discomfort, drink some light beverages like thin congee or milk to protect the stomach lining.