Our diet has the habit of "not tired of eating fine", and we like polished rice and white noodles.
However, today’s dietary conditions are getting better and better. Behind the “not tired of eating” is the excessive processing of food, which causes nutrient loss and food waste——
Not getting tired of eating essence brings more than just health problems
[Talk about health]
In recent years, with the rapid development of my country’s agricultural production and the rapid growth of agricultural product processing capabilities, the people’s living standards have continued to improve. Consumers are increasingly pursuing the good taste of polished rice and white flour, and the phenomenon of over-processing of grain has become more and more serious. Shows a trend of more and more refined.
In fact, eating too finely may not only bring nutrition and health risks, but also cause a series of problems such as food waste, resource waste and environmental pollution.
1. "Snowflake powder", "brightness and fineness", excessive processing of polished rice and white flour causes "hidden hunger"
In order to meet the consumer demand in the modern market, my country’s grain processing companies are increasingly pursuing “whiteness, refinement and beauty”. Flour becomes “snow powder”, rice becomes “bright essence”, and polished rice white flour removes almost all the epidermis and germ of the grain. Therefore, only the endosperm is retained, causing a great loss of grain nutrients.
With the continuous improvement of processing precision, the content of protein, minerals, cellulose and vitamins in flour gradually decreases.
Studies have shown that compared with whole wheat flour with higher processing precision, protein, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, niacin, iron, calcium, zinc, etc. lose 15%, 83%, 67%, 50%, 80%, respectively. 50%, 80%.
For rice, although rice bran only accounts for 5% to 8% of the quality of rice, it concentrates 64% of the nutrients of rice, which contains 15% to 23% fat, 14% to 16% protein, and 25% to 40%. The dietary fiber, there are a lot of γ-Oryzanol, polyphenol compounds, vitamin E and other physiologically active substances.
It can be seen that long-term consumption of polished rice and white noodles may cause "hidden hunger" caused by the lack of nutrients such as vitamins and minerals, which is a potential risk to health.
Relatively speaking, brown rice, rice bran and wheat bran are rich in dietary fiber.
Studies have shown that the dietary fiber in grains can prevent the occurrence of intestinal cancer, reduce the incidence of heart disease; increase the body's fullness, control weight; effectively control blood sugar concentration, prevent and relieve diabetes.
Vitamin E in grains, polyphenol compounds in wheat bran and plant sterols in germ are all good antioxidants, which can protect the body from oxidative damage.
2. The deeper the grain processing, the more serious energy consumption and environmental pollution
The refinement of staple foods and excessive processing of grains will not only have a serious impact on residents' nutrition and health, increase the prevalence and mortality of chronic diseases, but also greatly waste energy such as food, water and electricity, and cause environmental pollution.
Eating too finely has strict requirements on the ingredients. Many ingredients are thrown away as defective products before they have a chance to be served on the table, causing a huge waste of food resources.
In 2019, my country's rice output is about 200 million tons, and the output of processed tertiary rice is about 140 million tons. If it is further processed into super polished rice, the rice output rate will be reduced by 15%.
In other words, if 140 million tons of three-grade rice are processed into special-grade rice, only 120 million tons are left, and the reduced 20 million tons is equivalent to 130 million people's rations a year.
The deeper the grain processing and the longer the industrial chain, the greater the loss of raw materials and energy consumption.
In addition, waste water and waste may be generated during the processing, which may pollute the environment.
3. The diet is too delicate, which is not good for beauty
It should also be noted that due to the excessive fineness of the food, the intake of dietary fiber is reduced, causing slow bowel movements and poor bowel movements, which can lead to constipation, leading to hemorrhoids and intestinal diverticula, and even increasing the risk of gastric cancer and rectal cancer.
An over-refined diet also makes people lose many opportunities for chewing. Teeth and facial muscles cannot be exercised effectively, which is not good for beauty and health.
The "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2016)" recommends that the average adult should eat 50 to 150 grams of "coarse grains" such as whole grains and miscellaneous beans (or add 1/3 of whole grains when cooking staple foods).
For example, eat more whole wheat flour, the fiber and vitamins needed for good health can be well supplemented.
At present, the average daily intake of fiber in my country is about 6 grams, while the "Chinese Resident Dietary Guidelines (2016)" requires 25-30 grams.
Whole grains refer to grains that have not been refined or processed by grinding, crushing, or tableting, but still retain the endosperm, germ, bran and natural nutrients of the whole grain.
Common whole grains include whole wheat, brown rice, oats, buckwheat, corn, millet, barley, etc., many of which are often referred to as "coarse grains."
Coarse grains generally refer to grains other than rice and wheat. In addition to beans and root and tuber crops, common coarse grains include millet, red rice, black rice, purple rice, sorghum, barley, oats, and buckwheat.
These coarse grains are simple in processing and generally retain rich dietary fiber, which can help the normal operation of the human digestive system, increase the residence time of food in the gastrointestinal tract, delay the speed of glucose absorption after meals, and reduce blood sugar, cholesterol and triglycerides. Concentrations, thereby effectively reducing the risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
Some coarse grains are also rich in essential nutrients for the human body and have very good nutritional and health effects.
Oatmeal is rich in protein, B vitamins, β-glucan, saponins, calcium, iron, zinc, etc. Long-term consumption can regulate blood sugar metabolism, anti-inflammatory and relieve symptoms of autoimmune diseases.
Millet is rich in vitamin B1 and vitamin B2, which helps prevent many skin diseases.
The flavonoids and polysaccharides in buckwheat have good effects in lowering blood sugar, lowering blood fat and anti-cancer.
4. Coarse grains are good, but they must be controlled. They are not suitable for people with low immunity and poor gastrointestinal function.
The problem of over-processing requires the joint efforts of the whole society to solve it.
On the one hand, the country needs to be guided by the promotion of industrial policies, product standards, etc.; speed up the safety control, processing technology and equipment research and development of whole grain processing, so that healthy whole grain products are more suitable for consumers' taste comfort, convenient and fast eating needs .
On the other hand, consumers should strengthen the concept of eating whole grains.
When buying food, don't just choose delicious and beautiful foods, but pay more attention to the rich and balanced nutrients of the food, choose more lightly processed foods, and promote the consumption of whole grains.
Compared with fine grains, coarse grains contain high dietary fiber and are more likely to give people a feeling of fullness. However, excessive intake of dietary fiber is not conducive to the absorption of nutrients by the intestine.
Therefore, although coarse grains are good things, their consumption needs to be controlled, and they are not suitable for all people.
For example, if people with low immunity eat too much coarse grains, it will have an adverse effect on protein absorption, and immunity will not be improved; if people with poor gastrointestinal function and digestive system diseases eat too much coarse grains, the burden on the stomach will increase. Will feel uncomfortable.
Thick tea and light rice are always suitable, and the taste in the world is refreshing.
We should gradually change the eating habit of "don’t get tired of eating fine", starting from the concept of nutrition and health, and forming a new understanding, that is, the staple food for us is not only limited to supplementing energy and satisfying appetite, but to exert more play to regulate our physiology. Function and maintain good health. In the daily diet, a reasonable choice of suitable staple food combinations, "thickness and fineness" combination, ensure balanced nutrition and dietary balance, while minimizing food waste.
(Author: Chen Meng Mountain, director of the State Department of Food and Nutrition Advisory Committee, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences researcher; Sunjun Mao, Department Deputy Secretary-General and the Office of the National Food and Nutrition Advisory Committee, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences researcher)