"Zhoushan Health Classroom" chews green arrow mints and eats a mouthful of additives

Read the summary: The green arrow sugar-free mints that cost about ten yuan a box are full of food additives and spices, which makes the white-collar workers who often eat mints feel very confused. Nutrition experts say that eating this mint is not harmful to health, but fundamentally, the body does not need to ingest these raw materials.

(Health Times investigation team reporter Xu Yao) priced at about ten yuan a box of green arrow sugar-free mints, the ingredients are full of food additives and spices, which makes white-collar workers who often eat mints feel very confused.

Nutrition experts say that eating this mint is not harmful to health, but fundamentally, the body does not need to ingest these raw materials.

Concocted out of the fruity flavor

Health Times reporter bought a box of 23.8g green arrow blackcurrant flavored sugar-free mints from the supermarket, looked closely at the product ingredient list, from left to right: food additives (sorbitol, magnesium stearate, acesulfame potassium, temptation red aluminum lake, sucralose, indigo aluminum lake), flavoring (containing natural mint flavor). Unexpectedly, this kind of candy is a spice in addition to food additives.

Although the packaging says blackcurrant flavor mints, according to Green Arrow customer service staff, the product ingredients do not contain blackcurrant seeds. The flavor of mint and blackcurrant seeds actually stems from the flavoring added to the product.

Fan Zhihong, associate professor of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety of the College of Food Science of China Agricultural University, said that if this kind of candy is added with real fruit, it is not conducive to the long-term storage of the product, so it is necessary to improve the process to extend the shelf life. In view of this, the use of cooking spices is more "convenient".

The reporter consulted the relevant standards of food additives and learned that the above ingredients Zhongshan sorbitol, acesulfame and sucralose are mainly used as sweeteners to produce "sugar flavor", tempting red aluminum lake and indigo aluminum lake to be used as colorants to call out the "purple" of blackcurrants, and edible flavors contribute to the taste of mint and blackcurrant seeds. Magnesium stearate acts as an emulsifier and anti-caking agent, making the appearance and taste of candy better. In this way, after the "common efforts" of a variety of food additives, a box of green arrow blackcurrant flavored sugar-free mints was made.

Fan Zhihong introduced that food additives can bring pleasant colors and sweet tastes to food, and a small amount of intake is harmless to health, but this mint sugar made with food additives has no nutritional value at all.

The alleged cost is less than half the selling price

Since its listing, Green Arrow sugar-free mints have been selling as a "fresh breath" and have gradually been fashioned. In the video advertisement of the product, a white-collar man had a fresh breath because he ate two mints, which attracted the attention of a beautiful girl. In its official Sina Weibo, consumers are also constantly reminded to make friends and chase goddesses, and they must have a fresh breath and "carry green arrow mints with them."

Zhu Danpeng, a researcher at the China Food Business Research Institute, said that consumers buy more of the added value of products, such as this mint can freshen the breath and have certain social functions.

Looking closely at the product ingredients, all composed of food additives and spices, according to Zhu Danpeng's estimates, a box of ten yuan or so of tableted candy, the actual cost of its product is about 4 yuan.

In fact, not only the Green Arrow sugar-free mints of Wrigley Confectionery (China) Co., Ltd., but also the RIO mints of Swiss Ruiyile Food Co., Ltd., and the Mantos sugar-free mints of BufanMerer Candy (China) Co., Ltd., the main ingredients are also food additives and spices.

Nowadays, it is impossible for our life to leave food additives, whether it is beverages, snacks, seasonings almost all contain food additives. Fan Zhihong said that food additives are not bad, but to look at it correctly.

She believes that this mint is not a necessity of life, and advertising is constantly influencing the public's perception, forming an impression in the minds of consumers - socializing, eating a few mints after meals. This "fashion" concocted by merchants has gradually formed a "pseudo-folklore" in society.

"We spend ten dollars on a box of things that the body doesn't need at all, and it doesn't help health, which is not really rational fashion." If it's a fresh breath, mints do have their convenience. But we have other ways to choose, such as drinking tea, which can bring a fresh fragrance, and tea also contains some ingredients that are beneficial to human health. Fan Zhihong stressed.

Zhu Danpeng suggested that consumers should take a closer look at the nutrition ingredient list when buying food, choose more nutritious and healthier foods, and do not blindly follow the "fashion" and ignore nutrition.

Source: Guangming Network

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