Pairing and Taboos for Drinking Snacks
When gathering with family or friends at home, drinking is often inevitable, and drinking snacks are a must. Here's what to consider for suitable and unsuitable drinking snacks.
Pairing for Drinking Snacks:
1. It's advisable to add some sugar to dishes. Sugar has a protective effect on the liver, so it's best to include one or two dishes containing sugar, such as sweet and sour fish, candied lotus root slices, or sweet-fried peanuts.
2. Prepare several dishes rich in protein. Alcohol affects the body's normal metabolism, which can easily lead to a protein deficiency. Therefore, drinking snacks should include protein-rich foods, such as century eggs, home-style tofu, clear chicken soup, or braised pork ribs.
3. Have some alkaline foods. Chicken, duck, fish, and meat are mostly acidic foods. To maintain the body's acid-base balance, drinking snacks should include alkaline foods, such as stir-fried bean sprouts, spinach, or fruits and vegetables like apples and oranges.
Unsuitable Drinking Snacks Include:
1. Carrots. The carotene in carrots, under the action of liver enzymes with alcohol, can produce toxic substances that are harmful to health.
2. Liangfen (cold jelly). Because its processing requires adding a small amount of alum, and alum slows down gastrointestinal motility. Eating liangfen with alcohol prolongs the alcohol's stay in the gastrointestinal tract, thereby increasing the body's absorption of alcohol, as well as the irritation to the stomach and intestines, slowing blood flow, and extending the time alcohol stays in the blood, making a person more easily intoxicated.
3. Smoked and cured foods. They contain more nitrosamines and pigments, which react with alcohol, not only damaging the liver but also harming the oral, esophageal, and gastrointestinal mucosa, and can also induce cancer.
4. Barbecued foods. In the summer, many people enjoy gathering with friends and family at food stalls, drinking beer and eating grilled skewers, which is a joyous occasion. However, using barbecued foods as drinking snacks is unhealthy.
During the barbecuing process, not only is the utilization rate of protein in food reduced, but carcinogenic substances such as benzopyrene are also produced. Moreover, nucleic acids in meat, when decomposed by heat, can produce gene-mutating substances that may also lead to cancer. When excessive drinking leads to an increase in blood lead levels, these substances in barbecued food can combine with it, easily inducing digestive tract tumors.
Reason one: Alcohol is an organic solvent that can dilate blood vessels in the digestive tract and dissolve the mucus proteins on the surface of the digestive tract mucosa, making it easier for carcinogens to be absorbed by the body.
Reason two: Alcohol can reduce the liver's detoxification function, promoting the effect of carcinogens.
In addition, alcohol can also suppress the human body's immune function and enhance the activation of carcinogens.
The carcinogenicity of barbecued foods is related to the amount consumed. It is recommended to eat barbecued foods no more than twice a week, and no more than 100 grams each time.
Source: China Economic Net