Nitrates and their effect on the human body

After a long winter, colorful abundance at market stalls is especially pleasing to the eye: radish, cucumbers, greens ... Unspecifiedly, there is no chance for hypovitaminosis! Yes, but ... what about the experts' opinion: they say, "beauty" is dangerous - the level of nitrates and other chemicals in it is just off scale! Is it so? Are or not there are first fruits? Nitrates and their effect on the human body is accompanied by headache and oxygen starvation.

I wonder why we are so frightened by the word "nitrates"? In science, these are completely harmless salts of nitric acid, which plants absorb from the soil as a biologically necessary element. Vegetables without nitrates and their action on the human body simply does not exist. The quantity counts! If this substance gets too much into the plant (due to active fertilization of the soil with nitrate), it simply lays it out of stock! However, the main culprit of poisoning with early vegetables is not the nitrates themselves, but the nitrites formed from them in the body. Entering the blood, they can cause oxygen starvation, disrupt the work of the gastrointestinal tract, increase the oncorrhiza, and the use of a large single dose of nitrates threatens serious poisoning. Of course, these troubles are likely only in the case of regular eating of nitrate food. However, given that it is almost impossible to determine the amount of "chemistry" in a vegetable or fruit by eye, carefulness will not prevent it.


By the way, the permissible daily norm of nitrates, according to WHO recommendations, is 3.7 mg per 1 kg of body weight.

Plants differ in their ability to accumulate nitrates and their effects on the human body: high indices (up to 3000 mg) - leafy greens, beets, radishes and melons; At medium (400-900 mg) - zucchini, pumpkin, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers; / low (50-100 mg) - legumes, sorrel, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, fruits and berries.

The absolute record for the content of nitrates (80% above the norm!) - the early radish. This is due to its properties to draw moisture from the earth (along with nitrates).

Usually high greenhouse vegetables are sinned with greenhouse vegetables.

Choose mature fruits and store them in the refrigerator (at room temperature, the concentration of nitrates in foods increases). By the way, salads made from early vegetables, it is desirable to use not baggy - they actively breed nitric acid salts.


homework

Fortunately, there are many ways to reduce the risk level of the first vegetables without leaving your own kitchen! First of all, we need to get rid of the top two or three leaves and a stump - there, as a rule, chemistry accumulates. Then rinse the fruit thoroughly with a brush (you can soda solution: 1 tablespoon per liter of water, rinse the usual). And clean it properly: carrots and cucumbers - cut off on both sides by 1 cm, cut radishes from radishes and tomatoes. In greenery and lettuce should only eat leaves, not stems (they accumulate nitrates). You can also soak vegetables before use for half an hour. This will get rid of 25-50% nitrates. If further cooking follows, it ejects another 25-50% of "chemistry". The most effective method - cooking: put the peeled vegetables in water without salt (salt - at the end of cooking), cook, then drain the broth. By the way, when frying, nitrates are rendered harmless far less effective - only by 10%. But the sour, quite, acceptable: in the cabbage prepared in this way, already on the fifth day the level of nitrates is reduced by half.

Of course, there are also drawbacks with this approach - the amount of vitamins, alas, is also significantly reduced. What to do? There are several options: you can delay buying "young and early" (in ground fruits with nitrates is usually full order), you can grow an eco product (salad, onion, spicy greens) at home on the windowsill, or neutralize vitamin loss with green tea or ascorbic drink. .. The choice is yours!


Not so terrible nitrate ...

Some scientists are of the opinion that nitrates in moderate doses are useful for our body! Normally a person independently produces up to 25-50% of these chemical compounds, the rest is obtained by food. And they are contained in meat products, water, beer. Already in the oral cavity under the influence of bacteria nitrates are converted into nitrites, with saliva enter the stomach. According to the experiments of Swedish researchers, there are formed not so much carcinogenic nitrosamines, as useful for human nitrogen oxide (which improves blood circulation in the stomach, protecting it from gastritis, ulcers and the effects of aggressive drugs).