Rumor of "Incompatible Foods" Sparks Heated Discussion
Recently, a Weibo post about "incompatible foods" was widely shared by netizens, with nearly 2.5 million reposts. The post mentioned common home-cooked dishes such as beef stewed with potatoes, scallions mixed with tofu, and eggs stirred into soy milk. Are these claims about incompatible foods merely alarmist, or is there a basis for them? Many netizens have questioned these claims, hoping for a scientific conclusion. Journalists interviewed several nutritionists who refuted the views in the Weibo post.
Is beef stewed with potatoes really harmful?
"For the health of yourself and your family, please eat less of these dishes." Journalists found on Sina Weibo that the widely shared post listed nine food combinations that should not be eaten together. These nine combinations are: beef stewed with potatoes, scallions mixed with tofu, eggs stirred into soy milk, tea boiled with eggs, adding MSG to scrambled eggs, eating red and white radishes together, drinking milk with oranges, drinking liquor with soda, and drinking tea while eating meat. These are all common home-cooked dishes and eating habits. "My favorite dishes are on this list." This post left netizens at a loss, with many saying they would eat less of these foods in the future, and some even declaring they would "absolutely not eat them anymore." However, more netizens questioned these claims, demanding, "Wait for verification," "Provide scientific evidence, otherwise why should we believe these foods are bad for us and we should eat less? Don't mislead the public here."
This is a Paradox with the Harm of Misleading
Fan Zhihong, an associate professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety at the College of Food Science, China Agricultural University, and a council member of the Chinese Nutrition Society, accepted a journalist's interview via email.
Fan Zhihong believes that when facing rumors about food taboos, netizens can make a basic judgment by asking five questions. Question one: Who started this taboo? Are they a professional? Question two: What is the reason for this taboo? Is it reasonable? Is it logical? Question three: What is the scope of this taboo? Is it a generalization from a specific case? Question four: Is it completely possible to abide by this taboo? Question five: If this "taboo" is violated, how much harm could it cause?
She told journalists that the relationship between food and health cannot be summarized by food taboos. It should be said that eating food that is not suitable for one's constitution, or having an unreasonable nutritional mix, or consuming an improper amount, is an unhealthy way of eating. Because each person's constitution is different, dietary considerations also vary greatly. Such absolute, uniform taboos are very unscientific. They can mislead people away from the general direction of a healthy diet and affect dietary diversity.
Commentary
None of these 9 combinations are harmful to people
Yesterday, at the Third People's Hospital of Chongqing, Liu Li, a senior nutritionist with over 20 years of experience in nutrition, stated that the claims about incompatible foods in the Weibo post are too absolute. "The intake of any food involves the issue of quantity, and it must be treated differently according to each person's constitution." In response to the food combinations listed in the post that were said to be inedible together, she analyzed them one by one for the journalist.
Beef stewed with potatoes
Reason for incompatibility: Potatoes and beef require different concentrations of stomach acid for digestion, which prolongs the time food stays in the stomach, thereby causing delays in gastrointestinal digestion and absorption and leading to gastrointestinal dysfunction.
Analysis: If this logic were followed, then rice, noodles, and other foods could not be eaten with meat or eggs; one could only eat one type before the other, which is clearly absurd.
Scallions mixed with tofu
Reason for incompatibility: The calcium in tofu will combine with the oxalic acid in scallions to form calcium oxalate, making it difficult for the body to absorb calcium.
Rebuttal: After the oxalic acid in scallions combines with calcium and precipitates, less oxalic acid enters the bloodstream, which instead reduces the risk of developing stones. Moreover, most green leafy vegetables contain oxalic acid, and the amount in scallions will not have a significant impact on the calcium in tofu.
Eggs stirred into soy milk
Reason for incompatibility: The mucoprotein in eggs will combine with trypsin in soy milk, thereby losing the nutritional value of both.
Rebuttal: This claim is possible only if the soy milk is raw. However, this protein is not heat-resistant, so if the soy milk is cooked before being eaten with eggs, there is no problem.
Tea boiled with eggs
Reason for incompatibility: The acidic substances in tea will combine with the iron in eggs, irritating the stomach and being detrimental to digestion and absorption.
Rebuttal: The iron content in eggs is not high, so the chance of the above reaction occurring when making tea eggs is basically zero.
Adding MSG to scrambled eggs
Reason for incompatibility: Eggs themselves contain a lot of glutamic acid, the same component as MSG. Therefore, adding MSG to scrambled eggs not only fails to enhance the umami flavor but instead destroys and masks the natural flavor of the eggs.
Rebuttal: This claim is half correct; adding MSG to scrambled eggs is purely a waste, but it will not have a special effect on the taste, let alone cause incompatibility.
Eating red and white radishes together
Reason for incompatibility: White radishes contain extremely high amounts of vitamin C, but red radishes contain an enzyme called ascorbic acid dehydratase, which will greatly destroy the vitamin C in white radishes.
Rebuttal: The so-called "enzyme" is sensitive to heat and is deactivated during the stir-frying process, so it will not cause a serious loss of vitamin C.
Drinking milk with oranges
Reason for incompatibility: The protein in milk will first encounter the citric acid and vitamin C in oranges, causing it to curdle into lumps, which affects digestion and absorption.
Rebuttal: The pH value of gastric acid is 1-3, and citric acid cannot reach this concentration. Moreover, protein needs to become a milky substance when it encounters acid to be easily absorbed. Drinking milk with oranges is actually beneficial for absorption.
Drinking liquor with soda
Reason for incompatibility: Drinking liquor and soda together will quickly cause alcohol to vaporize throughout the body and produce large amounts of carbon dioxide, which seriously harms organs such as the stomach, intestines, liver, and kidneys, and also damages the cardiovascular system.
Rebuttal: The main component of liquor is ethanol, and the main component of soda is carbonic acid. The two do not undergo a chemical reaction, so there is no scientific basis for this claim.
Drinking tea while eating meat
Reason for incompatibility: Tea contains a large amount of astringent tannins, which will bind with iron and reduce its absorption rate.
Rebuttal: This principle only holds true when the tea is very strong and consumed in large quantities. However, there is not that much tannin in tea water. If the diet includes red meats like pork, beef, or mutton, there is no need to worry, because the absorption of heme iron in meat is not affected by tannins at all.