When eating hot pot, it's easy to lose track of time as you chat and eat for an hour or more, a fact that many people don't think much about. However, a recent study and test results released by the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration have found that after a hot pot has been boiling for an hour, it produces a large amount of nitrite, which is harmful to health. When it combines with amines released from meat during prolonged high-temperature cooking, it forms a carcinogen called "nitrosamine." Although some experts find this conclusion a bit alarmist and believe that the nitrite content in hot pot is not particularly high, it is widely acknowledged by many experts that food in a hot pot, after being boiled for a long time, not only loses its nutrients but also produces substances that are harmful to health.
In fact, nitrites are present in most foods and are highly soluble. Therefore, the longer the hot pot cooks, the more nitrites are dissolved into the broth. According to the test results from the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration, after one hour and an hour and a half of boiling, the nitrite content in the hot pot broth exceeds 10 mg/kg and 15 mg/kg, respectively. Although China has not yet established a maximum limit for nitrites in hot pot broth, it has set an upper limit of 20 mg/kg for pickled vegetables and sauces.
Furthermore, while the foods we use for hot pot, such as beef, mutton, seafood, vegetables, mushrooms, and animal offal, are rich in nutrients, most of their nutritional value is destroyed and dissolved into the broth after prolonged boiling. This means the longer the food is cooked in the hot pot, the lower its nutritional value becomes. By the end, you might be eating food with no nutritional value. For foods high in vitamin C, the continuous high-temperature cooking of hot pot has an even greater destructive effect on their nutritional value. Vitamin C, however, happens to inhibit the formation of the carcinogen nitrosamine.
Some people argue that since the nutrients have dissolved into the broth, why not just drink the hot pot soup? In fact, in addition to nutrients, hot pot broth also contains many harmful substances. Most of the "purines" (harmful substances in the blood that can cause gout) from the food are dissolved into the broth. After being consumed and metabolized by the liver, they produce a large amount of nitrate, which is harmful to the human body. According to tests, every 100 ml of hot pot broth contains 160-400 mg of purines. If excess purines cannot be excreted, they will accumulate in the blood, causing gout and even leading to renal failure.
To compensate for the nutrients lost in the hot pot ingredients, it's best to pair them with some raw fruits and vegetables. Additionally, drinking tea or eating garlic can help. The tea polyphenols and allicin they contain can prevent the formation of nitrosamines and have a certain detoxifying effect.