In daily life, we inevitably eat meat, but some meats should not be eaten in large quantities, or at all, as they can easily make you sick. Have you eaten these 5 types of meat? Be very careful!
1. Do not eat overcooked meat
Whatever meat people eat, they feel the longer it's stewed, the better. Thus, the pressure cooker was born. Using it to stew pork ribs, for example, the bones become soft in just over ten minutes.
However, at temperatures between 200°C and 300°C, amino acids, creatine, sugar, and harmless compounds in meat undergo chemical reactions to form aromatic amines. These food-derived aromatic amines contain 12 compounds, 9 of which are carcinogenic.
In modern life, industrial pollution accounts for 50% of human cancer cases, while diet accounts for 35%. In the past, we underestimated the role of toxic chemicals in food as a carcinogenic factor. Until the issue of aromatic amines is fully understood, do not eat overcooked meat. The best method is to cook meat in the microwave and then discard the broth, which contains many compounds, to avoid the harm of aromatic amines to the human body.
2. Avoid eating high-temperature fried cured meat
Cured meat contains nitrites. When fried or pan-fried, it produces the carcinogen nitrosopyrrolidine. Therefore, avoid frying cured foods like salted fish, cured meat, sausages, and ham. The correct way to eat them is to boil or steam them thoroughly until the nitrosamines evaporate with the steam. At the same time, when cooking cured and smoked foods, it's best to add some rice vinegar, as vinegar can decompose nitrites and also has a sterilizing effect.
3. Eat lean meat in moderation
Some people think that eating fatty meat makes you fat, while eating lean meat won't and can ensure nutritional intake, so they eat a lot of lean meat. In fact, eating more lean meat is not necessarily better. Lean meat is high in methionine. Under the catalysis of a certain enzyme, methionine can be converted to homocysteine. Excessive homocysteine can also lead to atherosclerosis. Animal experiments have shown that homocysteine directly damages animal endothelial cells, forming typical atherosclerotic plaques. Therefore, lean meat should be eaten in moderation; more is not always better.
4. Do not soak pork in hot water
Some people often soak fresh pork in hot water after buying it. This will cause the pork to lose many of its nutrients.
The muscle and fat tissues of pork contain large amounts of protein, which can be divided into myosin and myogen. The coagulation point of myogen is 15°C-16°C, and it is highly soluble in water.
When pork is soaked in hot water, a large amount of myogen is lost. At the same time, myogen contains organic acids, glutamic acid, and monosodium glutamate, and losing them will affect the taste of the pork. Therefore, do not soak pork in hot water; instead, rinse it quickly with cold water.
5. Do not eat pork from sick or dead pigs, or "bean" pork
The gastrointestinal tracts of pigs contain numerous bacteria, such as Salmonella, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, and Proteus. When a pig is sick and its resistance is low, these bacteria enter the bloodstream through the lymphatic system, multiply in large numbers in the internal organs and muscle tissues, and produce toxins. After the pig dies, the meat undergoes a change in quality; the protein is destroyed and coagulated, and it is very difficult to cook thoroughly. Therefore, if a person eats this bacteria-laden dead pork, they may become infected and fall ill.
If a person eats pork from a pig that died of Salmonella infection, they may also become infected with Salmonella and develop acute gastroenteritis, with symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, high fever, and other complications. If not treated in time, it can be life-threatening. Therefore, absolutely do not eat pork from sick or dead pigs.
Similarly, "bean" pork should not be eaten either. "Bean" pork is pork from a pig that died of cysticercosis, caused by the pork tapeworm. If a person eats undercooked "bean" pork, the cysticercus will develop into an adult tapeworm in the human small intestine. The eggs hatch into larvae in the pig's intestine, then penetrate the intestinal wall into the bloodstream, travel throughout the body, and develop into cysticerci in the muscles or brain. Therefore, do not eat "bean" pork.