Soy sauce is a commonly used condiment in our lives with a history of more than 2,000 years. It can make dishes look more appetizing and enrich our taste buds. However, there are many rumors on the Internet that soy sauce contains carcinogens, so many people are afraid to eat soy sauce. So, does soy sauce really contain carcinogens? Can I still eat it?

Soy sauce is a liquid condiment produced from soybeans, bran and wheat through various processing and fermentation processes. When buying soy sauce, there are usually light soy sauce and dark soy sauce. The soy sauce here actually means extraction. Due to the hot and humid weather in the south, soy sauce is usually made by dilute fermentation. After fermentation, the leachate needs to be extracted. The first time you smoke What comes out is called the first soy sauce, and then the raw materials are fermented again. The second soy sauce is called the second soy sauce, and the third soy sauce is the third soy sauce.

Light soy sauce: Soy sauce made by mixing first soy sauce, second soy sauce and third soy sauce according to a certain proportion. It has a delicious taste and light color, and is more suitable for stir-frying and salad dressing.

Dark soy sauce: On the basis of light soy sauce, the soy sauce obtained by further processing and concentrating the oil is dark soy sauce. It has a salty taste and deep color, and is suitable for coloring cured meats, braised meats and other dishes.

The claim that soy sauce contains carcinogens actually originated from an old news in 2016. "Consumer Reports" sent 21 soy sauces to a testing agency to test the content of 4-methylimidazole, and found that some of them 11 types of soy sauce were found to contain 4-methylimidazole, which is also the cause of the "soy sauce carcinogen" incident.

When manufacturers make soy sauce, they add caramel coloring to increase the color of soy sauce. 4-methylimidazole is produced from caramel coloring. According to the list published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, 4-methylimidazole belongs to category 2B carcinogens. California, USA, has relevant regulations on this. If the product will cause people to consume more than 29 micrograms of 4-methylimidazole per day, a warning label must be displayed on the package.

Here comes the question, can we still eat soy sauce?

In fact, our country is the country with the strictest management of 4-methylimidazole in the world. The limit value is lower than other countries and organizations. Our country stipulates that the content of 4-methylimidazole in pigments shall not exceed 200 mg. /kg, which is lower than that in the United States, where the limit is 250 mg/kg.

4-Methylimidazole is only a Class 2B carcinogen, and we cannot exaggerate its harm. The so-called Class 2B carcinogens, that is, there is insufficient evidence of carcinogenesis in animal experiments and human studies.

Ruan Guangfeng, an expert from the Food and Nutrition Information Exchange Center, also mentioned that 4-methylimidazole is an unavoidable by-product produced during the production process of soy sauce, but its content in soy sauce is very low and poses a risk of cancer. Also extremely low.

In addition to soy sauce, oyster sauce is also a condiment that has attracted more controversy. There are rumors that oyster sauce contains sodium glutamate, which will produce the carcinogen sodium pyroglutamate during the heating process, so oyster sauce is considered a condiment containing carcinogens.

Does monosodium glutamate really cause cancer? A large number of studies have shown that consuming large doses of sodium glutamate may cause poisoning, such as headache, sweating, flushing, facial swelling or pressure, numbness in or around the mouth, chest pain, stomach burning and other symptoms. However, regular consumption of sodium glutamate is not harmful to the human body. Even if it is heated, it will only lose its umami flavor.

In short, sodium glutamate is not as scary as imagined, and it will not cause harm to the human body as long as it is not taken in excess.

Regarding soy sauce and oyster sauce, the hidden danger we really need to be wary of is their salt content. CCTV has conducted relevant tests on this. Calculated based on 100 grams, the salt content of soy sauce is 12 grams, and that of oyster sauce is 12 grams. is 11 grams.

The World Health Organization recommends that adults' daily salt intake should be less than 5 grams, but my country's per capita salt intake exceeds the standard. According to the "Report on Nutrition and Chronic Disease Status of Chinese Residents (2020)", the per capita salt intake of Chinese families Cooking salt amounts to 9.3 grams per day.

Excessive salt intake has many harmful effects on the human body, and can easily increase the risk of stroke, high blood pressure and gastric cancer. Studies have found that consuming 2 grams more salt per day will increase systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure by 2.0mmHg and 1.2mmHg respectively. One spoonful of soy sauce contains 1/3 of the recommended daily intake. If soy sauce or oyster sauce is used in cooking, reduce the amount of salt used.

In short, soy sauce and oyster sauce that meet my country's food safety standards are safe and can be eaten with confidence, but attention should be paid to the dosage to avoid excessive salt intake. #HealthTrue Knowledge Plan#

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