Spring is a season of renewal with a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. However, when it comes to spring health preservation, you must be aware of the 10 foods you should never eat. Come and learn about the art of health preservation in spring with us!
1. Kidney Beans
Pathogenic Toxin: Saponin
Pathogenic Mechanism:
If kidney beans are not cooked thoroughly, the saponin in the beans can severely irritate the digestive tract. Additionally, kidney beans contain a凝血素 (coagulation factor) that has a blood-clotting effect.
Furthermore, kidney beans also contain nitrites and trypsin, which can irritate the human stomach and intestines, leading to food poisoning and symptoms of gastroenteritis.
Detoxification Method:
To prevent kidney bean poisoning, be sure to cook them thoroughly until they are well-done.
2. Bluish-Purple Seaweed
Pathogenic Toxin: Cyclic Polypeptide
Pathogenic Mechanism:
If seaweed turns bluish-purple after being soaked, it indicates that it was contaminated by toxic substances, cyclic polypeptide, while growing in the sea.
Detoxification Method:
These toxins cannot be neutralized by steaming or boiling, and the seaweed is not to be eaten.
3. Uncooked Soy Milk
Pathogenic Toxin: Saponin
Pathogenic Mechanism:
Since raw soybeans also contain toxic components, drinking uncooked soy milk can also cause food poisoning. Especially when soy milk is heated to about 80°C, the saponin expands, causing foam to float to the surface and creating a "false boil" phenomenon. In reality, the toxic components like saponin in the soy milk are not completely destroyed at this point. Drinking this soy milk will cause poisoning, usually with symptoms of gastroenteritis appearing 0.5 to 1 hour after consumption.
Detoxification Method:
To prevent poisoning from uncooked soy milk, continue heating it to 100°C after the "false boil" occurs. Cooked soy milk has no foam, and the disappearance of foam indicates that toxic components like saponin have been destroyed. Then, simmer on low heat for about 10 more minutes to make it safe for consumption.
4. Cassava
Pathogenic Toxin: Linamarin
Pathogenic Mechanism:
Although the root of the cassava is rich in starch, all parts of the plant, including the root, stem, and leaves, contain toxic substances, with fresh roots being particularly toxic. Therefore, caution must be taken when consuming cassava roots. The toxic substance in cassava is linamarin. Ingesting raw or uncooked cassava or its soup can cause poisoning. This is because linamarin or the enzyme linamarase, when hydrolyzed by stomach acid, produces free hydrocyanic acid, which poisons the human body.
A person can be poisoned by eating 150-300 grams of raw cassava, and it can even be fatal.
Detoxification Method:
To prevent cassava poisoning, peel the cassava and soak the flesh in water to dissolve the cyanogenic glycosides. Soaking for about 6 days can remove about 70% of the cyanogenic glycosides. After that, it can be heated and cooked for consumption.
5. Vegetables Contaminated with Nitrites
Pathogenic Toxin: Nitrite
Pathogenic Mechanism:
Wild vegetables like shepherd's purse and lamb's-quarters found in greens contain high levels of nitrites. If the human body ingests an excessive amount of nitrites, it can oxidize normal hemoglobin into methemoglobin. Furthermore, nitrites can prevent oxyhemoglobin from releasing oxygen, leading to tissue and organ hypoxia and causing poisoning.
Detoxification Method:
So, how can you prevent nitrite poisoning? It's actually quite simple: ensure your family eats fresh vegetables. Cooked vegetables should not be stored for too long after cooking. Pickled vegetables should be washed only after being pickled for at least a month before consumption.
6. Fresh Wood Ear Mushrooms
Pathogenic Toxin: Porphyrin-like photosensitive substances
Pathogenic Mechanism:
Fresh wood ear mushrooms contain a porphyrin-like photosensitive substance that is sensitive to light. After consumption, exposure to sunlight can cause photodermatitis. In severe cases, it can lead to difficulty in breathing due to throat edema.
Detoxification Method:
Not to be eaten.
7. Sprouted Potatoes
Pathogenic Toxin: Solanine
Pathogenic Mechanism:
The potato is one of the most commonly consumed vegetables, but it contains a toxic component called solanine (potato toxin, glycoalkaloid). The entire potato plant contains this toxin, but the concentration varies. Mature potatoes contain very little and generally do not cause poisoning. However, the sprouts, flowers, leaves, and the outer skin of the tuber contain higher levels of solanine. The toxin in the sprout area can be tens to hundreds of times higher than in the flesh. Immature green potatoes or potatoes with black spots due to improper storage also contain extremely high levels of toxic substances.
Detoxification Method:
To prevent potato poisoning, we can store potatoes in a cool, dry place to prevent sprouting. When preparing to eat, if you find sprouts or blackish-green skin and flesh, it's best not to consume them.
8. Broad Beans
Pathogenic Toxin: Vicine
Pathogenic Mechanism:
Broad bean seeds contain vicine. After a person consumes this substance, it can cause acute hemolytic anemia (favism). In the spring and summer, eating improperly prepared green broad beans often leads to poisoning. Symptoms usually appear 4 to 24 hours after eating raw broad beans.
Detoxification Method:
To prevent broad bean poisoning, it's best not to eat fresh, tender broad beans, and they must be thoroughly cooked before consumption.
9. Cruciferous Vegetables
Pathogenic Toxin: Glucosinolate
Pathogenic Mechanism:
Cruciferous vegetables include rapeseed, mustard greens, radishes, etc. Most of these vegetables contain glucosinolate, which is a toxin that can inhibit human growth and development and cause goiter. The glucosinolate content can vary greatly between different vegetables or even between different parts of the same vegetable. If not handled properly, it can lead to an enlarged thyroid, metabolic disorders, poisoning symptoms, and even death.
Detoxification Method:
So, how should these vegetables be prepared? When cooking these vegetables, you can blanch them in boiling water first before consumption.
10. Daylilies
Pathogenic Toxin: Colchicine
Pathogenic Mechanism:
Daylilies, also known as golden needles, are a popular dish. However, daylilies contain colchicine. After colchicine is ingested, it is oxidized in the human body to form colchicine dioxide, which is a highly toxic substance that can poison the human gastrointestinal and urinary systems, posing a serious threat to health. An adult can be poisoned by consuming 50-100 grams of fresh daylilies at one time.
Detoxification Method:
To prevent poisoning from fresh daylilies, you can boil them briefly in boiling water and then soak them in clean water to remove most of the water-soluble colchicine. Alternatively, you can cook the fresh daylilies thoroughly before preparing them for the meal.