It is the beginning of the school year again, and the commissary at the entrance of the school has ushered in a new wave of local tycoon markets. Elementary school students who have reaped the pressure of old money can finally live a small shop financial freedom addiction. However, parents should pay attention to the fact that the commissary at the entrance of the school has always been a distribution center for dark cuisine. Besides, even if it is not a "three noes" product, it may not be able to eat with confidence.
I don't know if you noticed, in the ingredient list of children's snacks, a name that often appears: carrageenan. This is a natural colloid extracted from red seaweed and is a commonly used food additive, such as dairy products, processed meats, jelly, pudding, etc., which will be used. Natural extraction, commonly used, see these words do not think that carrageenan should be harmless to people and animals? In fact, the scientific community has been arguing about the safety of carrageenan for more than half a century.
In addition to being a food additive, carrageenan is also widely used in chemical products, cosmetics and pharmaceutical research. The controversy over the safety of carrageenan mainly stems from its "excellent" performance in medical research. When researchers do animal experiments, they usually feed carrageenan to mice, guinea pigs, monkeys, etc. When feeding reaches a certain dose, the stomach and intestines of these animals will appear inflammation, ulcers and other symptoms, and some even appear blood clots, cancer, etc., and researchers will test the efficacy of the new drug according to the symptoms of the animal. It can be said that carrageenan is equivalent to the "imaginary enemy" of medical research.
Since the "power" of carrageenan is so great, why is it still used in food additives?
Here to popularize the science: carrageenan is divided into degraded and non-degradable types, many studies believe that only degradable carrageenan will harm the digestive system, and the undegraded type is not easy to be absorbed by the human body, there will be no problem. Carrageenan used for experimentation is a degradable type, while food is added to the undegraded type. Although this argument has also been criticized, it has been accepted by many institutions, which has allowed the entrance of carrageenan to go.
However, the European Union, which has always been conservative in food safety, still has a clear point: it is forbidden to add carrageenan to infant milk powder.
In fact, carrageenan has never degraded to the safe boundary between degradation, and it is not so unbreakable. Studies at home and abroad have found that undegraded carrageenan will degrade in a high temperature environment, or under the promotion of gastric juice, bacteria and other media. This problem arises, for example, in the study of water-injected pork. Carrageenan has a strong water retention, black heart traders to the pig water, will add a large number of edible undegraded carrageenan, and this pork in the cooking process, the carrageenan inside the degradation reaction, and then hurt the eater's stomach.
Let's talk about the snacks that the kids eat. Many parents often choose to heat their young children when feeding snacks or drinking dairy products, and some also use microwave ovens. This step of operation, in fact, it is easy to make the carrageenan in the food degrade. If consumed in excess, it is likely to cause discomfort in your child's gastrointestinal system.
In the scientific community, the safety of carrageenan has not been conclusive. Since the dispute cannot be resolved, we can choose to shelve it and then stay away. Merchants can produce, but we parents should not continue to ignore, so when purchasing products, remind parents to try to choose carrageenan-free food for their children.