Currently, food safety issues are receiving increasing attention. However, there are still many foods that are "selling dog meat under the guise of a sheep's head," using the banner of "healthy food" while actually posing many health hazards. Below, the editor reveals these 7 major foods for you; try to avoid them in the future.
1. Canned Tomato Sauce
Problem: The resin in the can lining contains bisphenol A, a synthetic estrogen that can cause a range of illnesses from reproductive diseases to heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Studies have found that bisphenol A levels in most people are excessive, which can inhibit sperm growth or damage chromosomes. There are 50 micrograms of bisphenol A per liter of canned tomatoes, which is enough to affect people's health, especially young people.
Solution: Choose tomato sauce in glass bottles.
Tip: Use bottled pasta sauce instead of canned tomato sauce, and choose pasta sauces with low sodium and fewer additives.
2. Conventional Apples
Problem: Because apple trees are grafted individually, each apple has a unique flavor. For this reason, apples are not very resistant to pests and often require pesticides to be sprayed. Apples are the fruit that most easily absorbs pesticides.
Solution: Buy organic apples.
Tip: If you think organic apples are expensive, buy conventional apples, but make sure to wash them thoroughly and peel them.
3. Microwave Popcorn
Problem: Studies have found that chemicals in the bag, including perfluorooctanoic acid, can cause infertility, liver cancer, testicular cancer, and pancreatic cancer. The microwave causes these chemicals to vaporize and enter the popcorn, and then enter the body.
Solution: Choose popcorn popped the old-fashioned way.
4. Non-Organic Potatoes
Problem: Root vegetables absorb herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides from the soil. As a staple food, potatoes are sprayed with herbicides during their growth period to prevent excess vines when they are harvested. Afterwards, the potatoes are treated to prevent sprouting.
Solution: Choose organic potatoes. The pesticides on conventional potatoes cannot be washed off.
5. Farmed Salmon
Problem: Nature does not herd salmon into pens, nor does it feed them soybean meal, poultry manure, etc. Farmed salmon has low vitamin D content but contains high levels of pollutants such as carcinogens, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), brominated flame retardants, and pesticides. To avoid an increased cancer risk, one should only eat salmon once every five months.
Solution: Eat wild Alaskan salmon.
Tip: Choose canned salmon.
6. Milk Produced with Artificial Hormones
Problem: Dairy farmers use bovine somatotropin (BST) to increase milk production, but this hormone can also cause udder infections in cows and even make the milk pus-like. It also increases insulin-like components in the milk. For humans, high levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) can lead to breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer.
Solution: Choose milk without BST or other artificial hormones, or organic milk.
7. Beef from Corn-Fed Cattle
Problem: Cattle are naturally herbivores, but to make them grow faster, modern farmers feed them corn or soy. Farmers earn more money, but we get less nutrition. Studies have found that grass-fed beef is rich in beta-carotene, vitamin E, omega-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), calcium, magnesium, and potassium, with lower levels of inflammation-causing omega-6 fatty acids and heart-disease-causing saturated fat.
Solution: Choose grass-fed beef, which is usually clearly labeled on the package; if you don't see it, you can ask the butcher.
Tip: Buying directly from local farmers is cheaper.