The seven biggest myths and lies about our food

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The seven biggest myths and lies about our food
The seven biggest myths and lies about our food
Anonim

Fresh milk and wheat are unhe althy? Total nonsense, says nutrition expert Martein Kattan. It debunks the biggest myths and lies surrounding our foods

When a person feels bad, they often think that it must be because of the food they ate, says Dutch nutrition expert Martein Kattan to Deutsche Welle.

On the other hand, there are hundreds of theories about which are the most useful foods, protecting against various diseases or allergies. Martein Kattan has researched the most common food claims and advertising messages and debunks some persistent myths:

Myth 1: Biofoods are better than others

For example, organic farming is very beneficial for the soil. But unfortunately, organic foods are no more useful than others produced by traditional agriculture. The amounts of pesticides contained in food are generally so small that they do not play a significant role. True, organic vegetables contain less nitrate than others, but it is not very clear that this is an advantage. Nitrates were once thought to be converted in the human body to nitrites and nitrosamines, which cause cancer.

However, today we know that this is not true at all. It's even possible that nitrates lower blood pressure, which wouldn't be a bad thing at all. Yet there are many other reasons why organic farming is worth supporting. For example, farmers who raise their animals in an ecological way use less antibiotics than usual. Overuse of antibiotics leads to the emergence of resistant bacteria, which are also dangerous for humans.

Myth 2: Eat more raw plant foods

Vegetables are not very rich in nutrients. However, they contain a lot of vitamin C and folic acid. During their heat treatment, for example, when boiling, part of the vitamin C content is lost, but this should not worry us, because today we can get vitamin C in a variety of ways. However, heat treatment of vegetables has a number of advantages: it destroys some dangerous bacteria - for example, Escherichia coli, which is currently causing major problems for consumers of raw vegetables and salads in the United States.

Myth 3: Cow's milk is unhe althy, causes many allergies

Milk fats are really not good: they raise cholesterol in the blood, i.e. increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Therefore, it is good to buy milk with lower fat content. Otherwise, milk contains valuable ingredients: vitamin B-12, iodine, potassium and zinc. Milk is also an important source of protein for vegetarians.

Between 1 and 2 percent of young children are indeed allergic to milk proteins, but this problem lessens as they get older. And milk sugar is sometimes not well tolerated by people in Africa, Asia and some southern Europeans, which, however, only manifests itself with heavy milk consumption. However, there is a downside to milk consumption: it may increase the risk of prostate cancer in men, but only to a minimal extent. We have more reason to say that milk helps protect against colon cancer.

Myth 4: Carbohydrates make you full

Every diet affects us, whether it is based on the reduced consumption of carbohydrates, fats or simply bets on the intake of less food. When dieting, we eat less because we cannot eat everything we want. And this reduces calorie intake.

Over 3 billion years of human evolution, the body has learned not to waste calories. None of the energy we get when we eat is wasted - whether we're talking about carbohydrates, proteins or fats. It's like a bank savings account: it doesn't matter which bank we deposit the amounts into, only how big they are. Everything goes through the same account, and in our case - in our stomach.

Myth 5: Wheat products are bad for he alth

There are people who are gluten intolerant and can get seriously ill from wheat proteins. Such is, for example, celiac disease - a serious disease, which, however, is very rare: no more than 1 to 5 people in a thousand develop it. However, the vast majority of people have no problems with wheat products. Despite all scientific knowledge, these products are persistently promoted as causing many of our he alth problems.

we all have these: we experience pain, fatigue, exhaustion, depression. Millions of people around the world suffer from gastrointestinal problems, and they are strongly influenced by the so-called placebo effect. Therefore, wheat is often blamed as the cause of all evils without any evidence that it could make people sick en masse.

Myth 6: Vitamin C helps against colds - the more the better

This theory has been largely tested. The result: vitamin C does not protect against colds. If a person regularly (every day) takes a shock dose of vitamin C, the next cold will last instead of 5 days - only four and a half. However, in order to achieve this effect, he must drink 1000 mg of vitamin C daily - which is not he althy at all.

Two extensive studies have proven that excessive intake of vitamin C can lead to the formation of kidney stones. In other words: we cannot take large doses of vitamin C with impunity.

Myth 7: Sugar causes hyperactivity in children

The theory that the so-called Hyperactivity syndrome in children is caused by sugar, originated 50 years ago in the United States. But in the meantime, this theory has been proven wrong. Later it was claimed that it was not sugar but artificial colors that caused the disease. But this is also not solidly proven.

What are the real dangers?

The real dangers to our he alth are smoking, alcohol and being overweight. The biggest problem in developed industrialized countries is that food is available in abundance. And being overweight causes many diseases, including cancer.

Martin Kattan is a professor of he althy eating at the Free University of Amsterdam and author of the book "Why bread does not harm us and microwave ovens do not destroy vitamins".

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