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Natural foods help limit metabolic diseases. Photo: Illustration

Flavor enhancers and metabolic diseases

Think of your body as a car that needs fuel to run. The engine of your car converts energy from gasoline to run smoothly. Your car needs the right kind of gasoline, free of impurities.

The same goes for our bodies. To nourish and function properly, the food must be “right”. What is right and what happens if it is wrong? Is it possible that the body is damaged when it has to metabolize “non-food” things?

Traditionally, umami can be created by stewing vegetables, fruits, bones and meat. Accordingly, the protein in food when cooked will release amino acids in a balanced ratio, including glutamate - creating a umami taste for the dish. That is natural umami.

But what about the umami taste from MSG, seasoning powder or other flavor enhancers? MSG with a combination of sodium and glutamate is intended to stimulate the taste buds, causing unpredictable consequences.

When we eat salty food, we naturally reduce the amount we eat. Unlike that, MSG stimulates nerve impulses, creating a feeling of hunger, while also pushing too much sodium into the body without the body realizing it, increasing blood pressure.

High levels of glutamate constantly stimulate the nerve cells in the hypothalamus, leading to overload and even destruction. Over time, the body continues to show symptoms of depression, fear, difficulty concentrating, chronic fatigue and increased sensitivity to pain, and later diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's.

These nerve areas also receive the hormone leptin, which reduces appetite when you are full. When leptin is not effective, you tend to keep eating, leading to obesity.

Half the truth

Compared with MSG, refined oils and industrial products extracted from plants, including fruits or seeds, are somewhat more sophisticated. Modern nutritional medicine tends to promote the use of vegetable oils instead of animal fats.

They believe that vegetable oils have a high proportion of unsaturated fats, which are good for the heart. Using oils is a trend because it is believed to improve health, reduce atherosclerosis, and reduce the risk of stroke. This is true, but only half the truth. Why is that?

To produce refined oil, it must undergo high-heat processes, destroying all the "living nutrients" in plants, including omega 3 fats and vitamin E. These are natural active ingredients with very strong anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Unlike synthetic vitamins added to oils, the natural structure of the ingredients in plants is compatible with the body and is safely metabolized.

Vitamin E protects the unsaturated fats in the oil, which are susceptible to oxidation. Manufacturers of refined oil substitute by adding artificial preservatives to ensure the oil does not change during storage, increasing its shelf life.

In refined oils, the ratio of two fats Omega 3 - Omega 6 is unbalanced, so when using a lot of oil, the body tends to create a continuous inflammatory response, increasing the risk of metabolic diseases.

In addition, the fat radicals in vegetable oils undergo hydrogenation, creating a particularly dangerous fat called trans-fat. Trans-fat affects liver cells, causing a dramatic increase in bad cholesterol radicals, beyond the body's ability to process.

Stay away from processed foods

Industrial sugar is sugar mass-produced in industrial factories - a type of sugar that has been deeply intervened, broken down from its original structure, refined, extracted, bleached, washed... to create sugar. There are even types that do not exist in nature but are sweet, even super sweet, most of which have no nutritional value. They are mass-produced and are called "white death".

Processed foods such as sausages and salami contain a lot of nitrite preservatives so should be eaten in moderation.

All common industrial forms of sugar including diet sugar, glucose syrup, refined sugar, corn syrup, or maltodextrin have the same mechanism of stimulating the body to release dopamine.

Dopamine is a pleasure hormone and is addictive. After a while, dopamine levels spike and then drop dramatically, forcing us to constantly supply sugar to maintain this feeling of euphoria.

High blood sugar and insulin resistance seriously increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Artificial sweeteners or diet sugars, which do not provide energy, are even more dangerous. Insulin is produced by the pancreas to metabolize sugar.

Diet sugar does not stimulate insulin production, at this time, the body's fat cells cannot convert energy from food for storage. The liver cannot metabolize fat and blood sugar well, causing hyperlipidemia and diabetes. Low insulin reduces the hormone leptin, making us crave food constantly, causing obesity.

Looking more broadly, carbonated soft drinks, industrial potato chips, cakes, candies, packaged breakfast cereals, canned soups, sausages, hot dogs... are a combination of toxic substances, from refined oils, industrial MSG and industrial and diet sugars. That's not to mention preservatives, industrial chemical residues from the overly complicated processing.

Stay away from industrial, processed foods. Go back to natural foods if you want good health and to minimize metabolic diseases.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/quay-ve-thuc-pham-tu-nhien-3144362.html