Tofu and honey are both common foods in our daily lives. Due to their rich nutritional value and various beneficial elements for the human body, they have always been very popular. However, there has been a long-standing rumor online that tofu and honey cannot be eaten together, with some even claiming that eating them together can cause deafness or even death. Is it really that exaggerated? What are the harms of eating tofu with honey?
What are the harms of eating tofu with honey?
Tofu is sweet, salty, cold in nature, and slightly toxic. It is a food that replenishes, clears heat, and promotes health. Regular consumption can replenish the middle jiao, benefit qi, clear heat, moisten dryness, promote fluid production to quench thirst, and cleanse the intestines. It is more suitable for people with a "heat" constitution, bad breath, thirst, unclear intestines, or for recovery after a febrile illness.
Honey is a naturally nutritious and nourishing food, and one of the most common tonics. According to analysis, it contains various inorganic salts and vitamins similar to the concentration of human serum, as well as organic acids and trace elements beneficial to human health such as iron, calcium, copper, manganese, potassium, and phosphorus. It also contains fructose, glucose, amylase, oxidase, reductase, etc. It has the effects of nourishing, moistening dryness, detoxifying, whitening and beautifying, and lubricating the intestines to promote bowel movements. It is also very effective in treating coughs in children.
Because the organic acids in honey can bind with the proteins in soy products, they form denatured precipitates that are not easily absorbed by the body. Therefore, if the two are eaten together or in succession, it can indeed cause adverse reactions such as diarrhea.
However, to say that eating tofu and honey together can lead to deafness or even death is a bit of a stretch. Many sources just mention it in passing without providing any relevant evidence, and they don't even cite a source. It's completely baseless and just fear-mongering.
However, even just diarrhea is not a pleasant experience, so it is recommended to be a bit cautious and not eat tofu and honey together. If you want sweet tofu pudding, you can just use regular syrup.