Many people enjoy a bowl of congee in the morning or evening, served with a side of pickles, which is delicious. However, pickles should not be consumed in excess. You need to be aware of the three major dangers of eating pickles!
The Three Major Dangers of Pickles
1. Eating a large amount of pickles can easily lead to vitamin C deficiency and kidney stones in the human body.
During the pickling process, vitamin C is largely destroyed. After pickling, the vitamin C content is almost completely eliminated. Consuming a large amount of pickles can lead to a deficiency of vitamin C in the body. Therefore, while a moderate amount of pickles can help regulate the appetite and increase it, becoming addicted to them is not advisable. Long-term consumption can easily lead to various diseases.
Pickled sauerkraut contains a significant amount of oxalic acid and calcium. Due to its high acidity, it is not easily converted into calcium oxalate and excreted from the intestines after consumption. Instead, it is largely absorbed, causing calcium oxalate to crystallize and deposit in the urinary system, forming stones.
2. Contains carcinogenic substances—"N-nitrosamines"
The reason for limiting the consumption of pickled foods is that a lot of salt is added during their processing. Salt contains impurities such as nitrites and nitrates, which can produce harmful substances like N-nitrosamines.
During the pickling process, pickled foods can easily be contaminated by bacteria. If the amount of salt added is less than 15%, nitrates in the vegetables may be reduced to nitrites by microorganisms. The nitrite content increases after one hour of pickling, peaks in about two weeks, and can persist for 2 to 3 weeks.
When consuming such pickled foods, a severe reaction can occur where nitrites in the body combine with amines to form a carcinogenic substance called N-nitrosamine. Therefore, frequently eating pickled foods is detrimental to health and can induce cancer.
For example, natural vegetables like radishes, pickled mustard greens, and cabbage contain a certain amount of harmless nitrates. If the temperature is high during pickling, the salt content is less than 10%, and the pickling time is less than 8 days, it will lead to a large proliferation of bacteria, and nitrates are also easily reduced into toxic nitrites. After 9 days of pickling, the nitrite content begins to decrease, and after 15 days, it drops to a safe level.
If pickles are not properly prepared, they can directly contain the carcinogenic substance N-nitrosamine. Eating large amounts of crude, unhygienic pickles poses a potential cancer risk. Furthermore, pickled foods contain a significant amount of nitrates and nitrites, which can combine with secondary amines in meat to form N-nitrosamines, a direct cause of stomach cancer.
Another category of foods, such as sausages, cured ham, and other cured animal products, have nitrites artificially added as food additives for the purposes of coloring, flavor enhancement, and preservation. This also increases the possibility of N-nitrosamine formation, so the intake of such foods should be controlled.
3. Excessive salt content, affecting the mucosal system.
Because the food requires a large amount of salt during the pickling process, this leads to an excessive sodium content in these foods. This places a heavier burden on the kidneys of those who frequently consume pickled foods and increases the risk of developing high blood pressure.
In addition, the pickling process can produce large amounts of the carcinogenic substance nitrosamine, increasing the risk of developing malignant tumors such as nasopharyngeal cancer.
High concentrations of salt can also severely damage the gastrointestinal mucosa. Therefore, people who frequently consume pickled foods have a higher incidence of gastritis, enteritis, and ulcers.