Can't eat peaches and watermelons together, will it cause poisoning? Can't drink lemonade during the day? Here comes the truth

With the arrival of summer, fruits and vegetables are plentiful, and many people have started to eat them like crazy. In addition to the common summer fruit - watermelon, there are also peaches, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc.

Watermelon, peach, and cucumber have become must-haves in almost every household because of their good taste and ease of purchase.

But there are different voices on the Internet:

Online rumor:

Peaches and watermelons cannot be eaten together, or they will cause fatal poisoning?

Cucumbers and tomatoes cannot be eaten together, will it destroy vitamin C?

Can’t drink lemon water during the day, will it make you darker?

So are these commonly eaten foods true or false? Let's uncover the truth today...

01

Can't peaches and watermelons be eaten together?

There is a rumor that peaches cannot be eaten with watermelons, as it will cause fatal poisoning .

In terms of nutritional content, peaches are rich in vitamins and minerals, especially minerals such as potassium and a certain amount of pectin, which are very beneficial for weight loss and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases such as hypertension.

Watermelon has a high water content, making it a great hydrating tool. It is also high in lycopene and vitamin C.

From the perspective of nutritional components, there is no reason why eating them together would cause poisoning.

As for food incompatibility, there is no such thing as "food incompatibility" in nutrition and food safety theory.

The interaction between food and medicine exists objectively, and there is also interaction between medicines. However, in real life, we have not seen any cases or related reports of poisoning caused by food incompatibility.

Even if there are some claims that "food incompatibility" can cause death, it does not rule out the influence of factors such as food poisoning or special physical constitution causing food allergies.

In fact, it is not a real food incompatibility. Even if you eat one of the foods alone, the above symptoms may occur.

Professor Zheng Ji, a nutrition expert in my country, once conducted experimental research on so-called "food incompatibility" foods, such as sweet potato + banana, peanut + cucumber, kelp + pig blood, persimmon + crab, etc., using mice, monkeys, and dogs. Among them, seven groups were tested for food tasting, and no abnormal reactions were observed.

The Chinese Nutrition Society once commissioned 100 healthy people from Lanzhou University to conduct a food tasting test on so-called "incompatible" foods, including pork + lily, chicken + sesame, beef + potato, potato + tomato, leek + spinach, etc. After observing them for a week, no abnormal reactions were found.

Therefore, the saying that peaches and watermelons cannot be eaten together has no scientific basis, and the claim that they will cause fatal poisoning is even more unreliable.

02

Can’t cucumbers and tomatoes be eaten together?

There is a saying on the Internet that cucumbers contain vitamin C-degrading enzymes and tomatoes contain vitamin C, and eating them together will destroy the vitamin C in tomatoes.

In fact, this is just theoretical logical reasoning, but it is not the case in reality.

First, there are studies that show that cucumbers contain some vitamin C-breaking enzymes, but not in enough quantities to cause a stir.

According to the Chinese Food Composition Table, the vitamin C content of cucumber is 9 mg/100 g. If cucumber contains a lot of vitamin C decomposing enzymes, why doesn't it destroy its own vitamin C? In addition, vitamin C decomposing enzymes are very easy to denature under high temperatures and then lose their enzyme activity, so cooked cucumbers are even less capable of decomposing the vitamin C in tomatoes.

In daily life, the main ways in which vitamin C is destroyed are heating loss and air oxidation destruction. Compared with these two, the vitamin C-degrading enzyme in cucumber is simply dwarfed.

Therefore, in order to get enough vitamin C, you might as well eat more fresh fruits and vegetables that have not been heated.

In addition to the above, there are some other sayings: Can't drink lemon water during the day, will it make you darker? Drink it at night to prevent aging? Is the road to whitening and beauty getting further and further away?

03

Can’t drink lemon water during the day, will it make you darker?

There is a rumor that lemon is a photosensitive food that easily absorbs light, and drinking lemonade during the day will make you darker.

First of all, lemon itself is indeed a photosensitive food, because the limonene and coumarins contained in lemon are very sensitive to light sources. When they come into contact with light sources, they will react and cause them to turn black.

However, lemons contain extremely small amounts of photosensitive substances such as limonene and coumarin. The content of limonene and other substances in the lemonade that people put a few lemon slices in is extremely low. This is one reason.

Second, limonene and coumarin are fat-soluble substances, almost insoluble in water, and mainly exist in lemon essential oil, which can hardly be brewed in lemon water;

Furthermore, even if it can be taken into the body, it still needs enough exposure to the sun to make the skin darker. In fact, it is mainly due to exposure to the sun. Even if you do not take in photosensitive substances such as limonene, you will still get tanned.

Therefore, there is no scientific basis for not drinking lemon water during the day. Similarly, drinking it at night for anti-aging effects is even less credible.

Anti-aging cannot be achieved by a single food. A balanced diet and a reasonable pace and lifestyle are more reliable.

04

Should we eat fruit before or after meals?

Regarding fruits, there are also some sayings in the industry: "gold, silver, copper, and lead". Fruits eaten in the morning are "gold", those eaten at noon are "silver", those eaten in the afternoon are "copper", and those eaten at night are "lead".

From the perspective of nutritional balance, the earlier you eat fruit, the better.

After a long night without food, eating some fruit in the morning is a good way to get vitamins and minerals.

In addition to vitamins and minerals, general fruits also contain a certain amount of dietary fiber, which is not easy to digest. If consumed at night, coupled with the decrease in gastrointestinal motility during sleep, it may be detrimental to gastrointestinal health.

Of course, this is not absolute. It is good for health to consume some fruit at any time of the day.

Therefore, whether to eat fruit before or after meals depends on the individual.

If you want to lose weight and your gastrointestinal function is normal, you can consider eating fruit before meals. This can increase your sense of fullness and reduce your food intake at regular meals.

If the gastrointestinal function is poor, or if you suffer from chronic gastritis or gastroduodenal ulcer, it is recommended that you eat fruit after meals. This can reduce the direct stimulation of the dietary fiber contained in the fruit on the gastrointestinal mucosa.

05

Precautions for eating fruits in summer

(1) Fruits should be eaten whole, not just juice. In addition to lacking dietary fiber and greatly reducing nutritional value, juice also contains more pectin and sugar. Excessive intake may induce gout and be detrimental to blood sugar control;

(2) People with poor gastrointestinal function should try not to eat fruits that are too cold, such as frozen lychees, to avoid gastrointestinal symptoms;

(3) The temperature is high in the summer and bacteria can easily breed. If cut fruits are not stored properly, it can easily cause food poisoning.

Author | Wang Wenxiang, Doctor of Medicine, Associate Professor at Fujian Medical University, Doctoral Supervisor of Nutrition and Food

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