It will be a health "killer" for a while, and it will have health benefits for a while... Mooncakes are labeled with various labels, which makes people dazzling——
I have to eat mooncakes this year
Our reporter Zhang Yun
The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and recently entered the supermarket, a wide variety of moon cakes.
Among them, there are not only traditional moon cakes such as Wuren and Jujube, but also many new varieties, such as sugar-free moon cakes and seafood moon cakes.
Nowadays, people are paying more and more attention to health. Mooncakes high in oil and sugar are becoming more and more prohibitive, and they are even called health "killers" by some people.
The mooncakes, dubbed "sugar-free" and "health care", have become consumers' new favorites.
So, are moon cakes really a "killer" of health?
Do sugar-free moon cakes contain sugar?
Does health moon cake have health effects?
In addition, there are rumors that the shorter the shelf life of mooncakes, the less preservatives in them. Is that true?
In response to the above issues, a reporter from Science and Technology Daily interviewed relevant experts.
Mooncakes are health "killers"? Truth: It’s okay to eat a reasonable amount of food at ordinary times
As the "standard" of the Mid-Autumn Festival, moon cakes are not only a traditional delicacy, but also a symbol of family reunion.
However, because the fillings are high in oil and sugar, some people will experience indigestion symptoms after eating moon cakes, so many people think that "moon cakes are harmful to health."
"The reason why the mooncake crust is soft and the filling is sweet is because a lot of oil and sugar are added. This is the main reason why mooncakes are considered unhealthy." Ruan Guangfeng, director of the business department of Kexin Food and Nutrition Information Exchange Center, accepted The reporter of Science and Technology Daily said in an interview that traditional moon cakes are mainly made of flour, oil, sugar or syrup, plus fillings, including bean paste, date puree, salted egg yolk, and ham.
National registered dietitian Li Yuanyuan said in an interview with a reporter from Science and Technology Daily that data shows that excessive intake of refined sugar may be related to overweight, obesity, diabetes, premature aging, and gout.
The World Health Organization has put forward relevant standards for the daily refined sugar intake of adults. It is recommended that adults’ daily refined sugar intake should not exceed 10% of total daily sugar intake. Up to 5% will be more beneficial to the human body.
Moon cakes contain a lot of refined sugar, and eating moon cakes will greatly increase the ratio.
At the same time, moon cakes also contain a lot of oil, most of which are palm oil, shortening, and hydrogenated vegetable oil with a higher degree of saturation.
Excessive intake of saturated fat may cause cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
"Moon cakes are high-calorie foods. You really need to control the quantity when you eat them. But you don’t need to call it a health killer. It’s unreasonable to talk about health without the total amount of food. The Mid-Autumn Festival is only celebrated once a year, as long as we are reasonable in normal times. It’s okay to eat and exercise frequently, and it’s okay to eat one or two yuan during the holidays.” Li Yuanyuan said.
Are there health benefits of health mooncakes? The truth: no special effects, salt or excessive
Some moon cake advertisements claim that their products contain precious ingredients such as bird's nest, shark fin, and abalone, which have health effects.
What's more, some merchants also launched high-end moon cakes such as ginseng moon cakes and gastrodia elata moon cakes.
So, do these "noble" moon cakes really have health benefits?
"The health preservation functions of these mooncakes are mostly marketing gimmicks. In fact, their nutritional value is similar to that of many ordinary foods, and there is a risk of contamination of this kind of mooncakes, and the salt content may exceed the standard." Ruan Guangfeng said frankly, with ingredients such as abalone, shark fin and bird's nest. It does have a certain nutritional value, but many affordable ingredients are equivalent to their nutritional value. The more expensive it is, the better.
What's more, only a small amount of abalone, shark fin or bird's nest is added, and the nourishing effect it can play is really limited.
At the same time, if this kind of food is handled improperly, it is likely to cause bacteria to grow and increase the risk of eating.
"In addition, in order to reconcile the taste, businesses are likely to add a lot of salt to these moon cakes. Excessive consumption of these moon cakes can easily lead to excessive salt intake, especially for hypertensive patients." Ruan Guangfeng said.
Sugar-free moon cakes contain no sugar? Truth: This "sugar-free" is not that "sugar-free"
Because they claim that they are sugar-free and will not cause blood sugar to rise, sugar-free mooncakes have become popular in recent years and are regarded as a boon by diabetics.
Is this really the case?
"The so-called sugar-free moon cakes are mostly just without adding sucrose and replacing them with sweeteners, but it cannot be said that they have no sugar at all." Ruan Guangfeng said that sugar is a common name for carbohydrates. In addition to sucrose, starch, flour and other polysaccharides are also used. Belongs to carbohydrates.
my country's nutrition labeling standards stipulate that if the name of a solid or liquid food is to be labeled "sugar-free", the sugar content per 100 grams of food shall not exceed 0.5 grams.
Moon cakes are mainly made of flour and starch. Even if sucrose is not added, their sugar content is much higher than the national standard for sugar-free food.
"Therefore, the so-called sugar-free moon cakes are actually commercial propaganda, not sugar-free in the true sense." Ruan Guangfeng reminded that sugar-free moon cakes contain a lot of fat and are not low in calories. Diabetics are best not to eat them.
The shorter the shelf life, the less preservatives? The truth: the shelf life cannot determine the quality of mooncakes
There are rumors that because of the addition of preservatives, the mooncakes are still intact after 8 years of storage.
Many people also feel that some moon cakes have a long shelf life and must be added with a lot of preservatives.
Therefore, when some consumers buy mooncakes, they deliberately buy those with a short shelf life, believing that such mooncakes contain less preservatives.
So, what are the facts?
In this regard, Ruan Guangfeng explained that moon cakes are generally transported and stored at room temperature.
Mooncakes with a soft and waxy texture usually have a higher moisture content, which provides a suitable environment for bacteria to grow.
In order to transport and store moon cakes at room temperature, people have to resort to preservatives, otherwise it is difficult to ensure product quality.
"How much preservatives are added to moon cakes is mainly related to its ingredients, water content and ingredients." Ruan Guangfeng said, especially sweet moon cakes, such as bean paste moon cakes and five-core moon cakes, contain less water and more sugar, and microorganisms are not easy to multiply. For storage-resistant, preservatives are kept less, and their shelf life is relatively longer.
Mooncakes with egg yolk filling, beef filling, and ham filling contain more water and less sugar. At this time, more preservatives are needed, and their shelf life is relatively short.
Therefore, the long shelf life of moon cakes does not mean that more preservatives are added. The shelf life cannot determine the quality of moon cakes.