Citric acid, also known as citric acid, is a common food additive and is widely used in other industrial fields.
It also often appears in black workshops everywhere, mainly used to "bleach" mushrooms, lotus roots and other fruits and vegetables.
【Where does citric acid come from?】 】
Does citric acid come from lemons? Lemon does have citric acid in it, but it was first extracted from citrus, and there is still a small part of citric acid extracted from various citrus.
Citric acid is also found in many fruits, such as grapefruit, mulberry, guava, and grape.
Citric acid is now produced mainly by a microorganism called Aspergillus niger, which can be produced by fermenting sugar, molasses or starch-containing raw materials (sweet potatoes, corn, etc.).
This process first appeared in the United States 100 years ago, but now more than half of the world's production comes from China, of which about 80% is exported to Europe and the United States, and only 20% is used for domestic sales.
【Use of citric acid】
Citric acid used in the food and beverage industry accounts for more than 60% of total production and is the largest amount of organic acid used in the food industry.
The sour taste of citric acid is pure and attractive, and it is a widely used acidulant or acidity regulator, which is its most important use.
In addition, citric acid as a feed additive can improve animal production performance, and is used in both livestock breeding and aquaculture.
It can speed up the renewal of keratin, so it is often used in various cosmetics.
Citrate also has many uses, such as calcium citrate can be used for calcium supplementation, and iron ammonium citrate can be used to prevent table salt from clumping.
Citrate can be used as an emulsifier, plasticizer, surfactant, etc. for food, daily chemicals and other fields.
It is also used in machinery, petroleum, construction, nuclear energy, environmental protection and other fields, and is a generalist.
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【Is citric acid safe】
The rat toxicity parameter (LD50) of citric acid is 6.7g/kg, and the parameter of table salt is 3.0g/kg, and the larger this parameter, the safer it is.
Codex Alimentarius and developed countries or regions such as Europe, the United States, and Japan allow it to be used in food, which shows that its safety is widely recognized.
In China, food grade citric acid can be used as a processing aid, as a flavor and fragrance, and as an acidity regulator, and there is no limit to the amount of use.
The excellent safety of citric acid is not surprising, because your body has long since adapted to it.
In the field of biochemistry and medicine, there is a thunderous term called "three carboxylic acid cycle", and this "three carboxylic acid" is actually citric acid, because citric acid contains three "carboxyl groups".
The "citric acid cycle" is the ultimate destination of sugars, lipids and amino acids in the human body, and it is also the hub of their mutual transformation.
【Does citric acid cause low blood calcium?】 】
In the field of clinical medicine, citrate is a widely used anticoagulant, and the usage is directly proportional to the blood.
The principle is to allow citric acid to bind to calcium ions in the blood, while thrombin does not work without calcium ions.
However, some scholars have found that this may lead to hypocalcemia, resulting in obvious adverse reactions.
Will long-term consumption of foods containing citric acid cause low blood calcium?
First of all, there is no definite evidence of this, after all, the citric acid eaten into it has to go through the absorption process of the digestive tract.
Secondly, hypocalcemia mainly occurs in the case of massive blood transfusions and kidney dialysis, which is incomparable to diet.
Moreover, The amount of citric acid consumed by European and American consumers is much greater than that of Chinese consumers.
An Average American eats about 1,000 grams of citric acid a year, compared to about 50 grams Chinese, in case the sky falls, there is still foreign silver on top.
Of course, it should be pointed out that industrial citric acid cannot be used for food production and processing.
The illegal acts that often appear in the media are often industrial citric acid, and even other illegal substances are used at the same time, so the food additive citric acid is a black pot!