Will eating noodles lead to malnutrition? 8 points to know

The summer solstice is here. In this sweaty midsummer season, eating noodles has become a routine activity in many families.

Compared with other daily meals, noodles have a great advantage, that is, they are easy and convenient to cook. You don't need to spend time cooking rice or frying vegetables in front of the stove. Just spend a few minutes cooking noodles, cut a small amount of fresh vegetables such as cucumber shreds, pour the prepared noodle sauce/fried sauce on it, or mix it with sauce, and you can have a meal.

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Another benefit of noodles is that they can be eaten hot or cold. Especially in the summer, eating cold noodles, boiled and served with some raw vegetables, is very refreshing and comfortable, unlike eating hot dishes, which will make you sweat after eating.

However, eating noodles also requires considerable technical skills! If you are not careful, eating noodles every day can easily lead to malnutrition. Taking advantage of the summer solstice, the day of eating noodles, I would like to share with you 8 tips on eating noodles.

Knowledge point 1: Why does eating noodles in summer make people feel cool?

In summer, the temperature is high. Everyone thinks that it is the high ambient temperature that makes people feel hot and irritable, but they forget that the human body is actually a small furnace. The body temperature is 37 degrees Celsius, so when the ambient temperature is lower than the body temperature, the human body is always dissipating heat to the environment.

The body's heat dissipation is also related to the diet. Among the three major nutrients, protein, fat, and carbohydrates, protein has the highest "food thermal effect", up to 30%. In other words, after eating protein, 30% of the calories are lost from the body surface as heat. This heat-generating effect can make us feel warm and comfortable in winter, but very uncomfortable in summer. Therefore, eating too much protein in summer will bring a feeling of dryness and heat. In comparison, only 4%~5% of the calories contained in carbohydrates will be lost as body heat, which will not make people feel so dry and hot.

Therefore, in summer, we like to eat foods with very low protein content, such as jelly, stuffed skin, cold noodles, and even fruits with very little protein, not only because they can be eaten cold, but also because their low protein content can reduce the body's heat dissipation. However, too little protein can cause the problem of low satiety. You may feel full at the time, but you will be hungry after two hours.

Compared with foods like jelly, noodles are slightly better because the protein content of wheat flour, which is used to make noodles, is usually not less than 10%. Even if fish, meat, and eggs are not added, as long as you eat enough noodles, it will not cause obvious protein malnutrition problems in the short term.

Knowledge point 2: Do noodles need to be made with flour with high protein content?

The protein content of flour is closely related to its use. The reason why the dough has such good stickiness, toughness and extensibility is closely related to the gluten protein in the flour. This gluten protein is the so-called "gluten". In fact, it has nothing to do with wheat bran. Only when the wheat flour with the bran part removed can the wonderful taste brought by gluten protein be fully reflected.

This is because the gluten protein content is higher in the middle part of the wheat grain. The surface bran part not only has a low gluten protein content, but also has a high cellulose content, which blocks the continuous structure of the gluten protein, greatly reducing the elasticity and toughness of the flour products. Therefore, dumpling wrappers made of whole wheat flour are easy to break, noodles are easy to break, and bread is not so fluffy...

Generally speaking, the higher the protein content in flour, the better its toughness and elasticity, and the less likely it is to break when stretched and cooked. Of course, the chewier it tastes when cooked for the same amount of time. The reason why durum wheat pasta is so chewy is largely due to the characteristics of the raw materials.

However, only the protein content is related to gluten strength, while the vitamin and mineral content is completely irrelevant. In fact, flour with good gluten strength often has a relatively low vitamin content because the outer layer with high vitamin, mineral and dietary fiber content needs to be removed more cleanly.

Knowledge point 3: Are the "gluten enhancers" in noodles poisonous?

The gluten content of most traditional wheat varieties in my country is not high enough. In the absence of changing the protein content in flour, people have come up with many ways to change the taste of noodles. The most common method is to add salt to the flour, using the effect of ions to strengthen the interaction between gluten proteins, making it less likely to be overcooked. So, if you look at the ingredient list of dried noodles in the supermarket, most of them have the ingredient "salt" or "sodium chloride". In home cooking, people often add salt when kneading noodles to "strengthen the gluten".

However, there is a more professional way, which is to add alkali to the dough. This is because under alkaline conditions, the "sulfhydryl" chemical group in gluten protein is easy to lose hydrogen, and it is easier to cross-link between protein molecules to form "disulfide bonds", just like pulling a lot of ropes between proteins to tie them together. The tighter the proteins are, the less likely they are to loosen, and the stronger the gluten strength of the flour products will be.

So, if you look at the refrigerated shelves in supermarkets, you will see the words "sodium carbonate" on the so-called Japanese ramen products. The "ponghui" used by the people to make Lanzhou ramen, as well as the ash from burning various plants, are mainly composed of potassium carbonate. Sodium carbonate (commonly known as soda, soda ash) and potassium carbonate are both obviously alkaline and have been developed by humans as the earliest food additives since ancient times. This method has also been developed and utilized by residents in the south who love to eat rice to make chewy foods such as 梘水团子.

In addition to adding salt and alkali, other methods to make noodles chewier include adding "gluten", oxidants, plant gums, water-retaining agents and enzyme preparations. As long as the usage and dosage comply with national regulations, these practices will not cause food safety problems.

Adding gluten is a more "correct" way. Since flour with a high gluten protein content can produce a better taste, why not just add some gluten protein. The so-called gluten is the extracted gluten protein powder.

Oxidants can make the proteins in the dough form "disulfide bonds" and cross-link. Plant gums are some natural colloid substances with stickiness. For example, extracting the gum from kelp and adding it to the dough will make the noodles more chewy. Adding phosphates and other substances that can "bind" water molecules can also make the noodles fuller and less likely to rot.

The most technologically advanced method is to add glutamine transaminase, which is the legendary "biological glue" that allows the proteins in food to naturally stick together, allowing the protein side chains in the dough to pull together to form a tighter network, thereby becoming stronger.

There are also some "traditional" methods among the people to help protein and starch "increase gluten", such as adding borax and alum. These methods have been banned by food safety regulations and will not be discussed here.

Knowledge point 4: Will the nutritional value of noodles be reduced if gluten enhancers are added?

Noodles with enhanced gluten are not toxic, but from a health perspective, they do have some unsatisfactory aspects.

Adding salt and alkali will increase the sodium content. In the hot summer, sweating will excrete some sodium. But it is still necessary to pay attention that if the noodles themselves contain a high sodium content, then when making the noodle soup, you should put less salt to compensate. As long as the total saltiness is controlled in the end, it will not significantly affect health.

The main problem with adding alkali is that it will lead to a further decrease in vitamin content. Flour is originally a good source of vitamin B1, and B2 is also not bad. However, in summer, people usually do not eat soup noodles cooked in the original soup, but eat noodles. When cooking noodles, some B vitamins will dissolve in the water, which will cause losses. If alkali is added to the noodles, it will be even more troublesome - vitamin B1 and vitamin B2 are very afraid of alkali. Heating in alkaline water and then throwing away the noodle soup will cause a heavy loss of these two vitamins, especially vitamin B1, which will be almost completely killed.

Adding gluten will increase the protein content without causing loss of other nutrients, so there is no need to worry. Plant gum and enzyme preparations do not affect the nutritional value. However, adding oxidants may increase the loss of B vitamins.

Knowledge Point 5: I heard that noodles have a relatively low glycemic index? Are strong noodles suitable for people with high blood sugar levels?

In general, the glycemic index (GI) of noodles is indeed relatively low, but it also depends on the raw materials, processing technology, and cooking degree. Generally speaking, the softer the noodles, the faster they digest and the higher the glycemic index. On the contrary, the chewier the noodles, the slower they digest and the lower the glycemic index.

30 years ago, a study found that if the gluten protein in flour is removed, the digestion rate of starch in noodles will be accelerated without the "blockage" of the gluten protein network, and the blood sugar response will increase significantly. Therefore, noodles that are too soft and mushy are actually not good for diabetics. However, on the other hand, people with severe indigestion will find it difficult to digest those chewy noodles, while soft and mushy "baby noodles" are easier to digest.

Therefore, in order to control blood sugar after a meal, diabetics should choose noodles with stronger gluten and slower digestion, such as macaroni made from durum wheat and more resilient pasta. Western studies have found that they raise blood sugar more slowly. The same is true for Chinese noodles. Chewy noodles are easier to control blood sugar after a meal.

In addition to adding salt and alkali, there is another method to make noodles elastic, which is to do "annealing". The so-called toughening process is to heat the starchy food to a temperature close to the gelatinization temperature (60% to 70% doneness), then take it out and cool it down. After it is completely cooled, it will not be easy to overcook when heated again.

First, heat the noodles until they are half cooked, then take them out and put them in cold water or ice cubes to "shock" them. The low temperature and rapid cooling will make them tough. After they are completely cooled, continue to cook them in the pot, and they will not be easily overcooked and will have a more chewy texture.

This method can rearrange starch molecules, making the texture more compact and increasing the proportion of slowly digestible starch. After eating, the digestion speed will be slower, which is more beneficial for controlling the rise in blood sugar after a meal.

Knowledge point 6: There are many kinds of coarse grain noodles and whole wheat noodles now. Can they really help control blood sugar?

Whole grain noodles, or "whole wheat noodles", may not necessarily help control blood sugar, nor may they lower the glycemic index of noodles. The key lies in what raw materials they use, what kind of texture structure they finally form, and how fast they are digested.

Most so-called multi-grain noodles have a very low proportion of multi-grain, and are mainly made of white flour. This is because making noodles requires good toughness, and most multi-grain does not contain gluten protein and is not tough. Therefore, it is difficult to make noodles if you want to add a lot of multi-grain, and it is no wonder that most so-called multi-grain noodles only contain a small amount of multi-grain. Such products have little impact on nutritional value.

However, some noodles have more than 20% bean powder added, such as mung bean noodles, pea noodles and other local traditional foods. Compared with white noodles, the protein, vitamin and mineral content has increased, which is good for improving nutritional value. At the same time, adding bean powder is beneficial to improve the smooth taste of noodles, making them suitable for cold noodles.

Foreign studies have also found that compared with ordinary pasta, the glycemic index of whole wheat pasta is not lower. Although the proportion of whole wheat flour raw materials is large, the dietary fiber in whole wheat flour "cuts off" the continuous structure of gluten protein, making the taste less tough and easier to be digested by the body's digestive enzymes. This effect offsets the effect of dietary fiber in delaying the rise of blood sugar, and the final glycemic index is not much different.

Among traditional grains in my country, buckwheat and naked oats are the varieties with lower postprandial blood sugar response. Buckwheat noodles, naked oats noodles, oat noodles, etc., if the proportion of white flour is low, are very helpful in controlling blood sugar and are a good staple food for diabetics. Their content of B vitamins, minerals such as potassium, magnesium, and calcium, soluble dietary fiber, and health-care ingredients such as flavonoids are much higher than white noodles.

There are some instant buckwheat noodles and oatmeal noodles products on the market. They often do not need to be cooked and can be eaten directly after soaking. They have high nutritional value and the glycemic index can be as low as below 60, which is suitable for diabetics with good digestive ability.

Knowledge point 7: The glycemic index of noodles is lower than that of rice. Why does eating noodles lead to worse blood sugar control?

Many diabetic patients ask: Why is it that my blood sugar control is not good when I eat rice noodles, but it is better when I eat rice? Is the GI value invalid?

The key issue here is that the GI value of a single food is not equal to the GI value of a meal. A nutritionally balanced meal is made up of a variety of foods, not just a staple food containing starch.

When eating rice, there are usually both meat and vegetables, and enough vegetables. It is impossible to eat only a large bowl of rice and two or three bites of vegetables. Vegetables are large in size, which can slow down the emptying of the stomach and dilute the starch content; the polyphenols and other ingredients in them can also reduce the activity of digestive enzymes.

Protein foods such as fish, meat, eggs, milk, and soy products can also promote the release of cholecystokinin and intestinal peptide, slow down the rate of digestion and absorption, enhance the effect of insulin, and help control blood sugar response.

Therefore, although rice itself has a high GI value, a meal containing rice is made up of mixed foods, and the combined glycemic index of all foods may not be high. Although noodles themselves have a low GI value, the overall effect of a meal may not be as good as a rice meal with a reasonable nutritional balance.

However, when eating noodles, people tend to eat a large bowl of noodles with only a few cucumber slices and two spoonfuls of noodle sauce. Both the amount of high-quality protein and the amount and variety of vegetables are much less than that of rice.

At the same time, when noodles are cooked, the B vitamins and potassium in them will dissolve into the noodle soup, and the content will decrease. However, these nutrients are especially needed by the human body when sweating a lot in the summer. If they are repeatedly rinsed, the loss of vitamins and potassium will be greater. If these losses cannot be compensated by diet, and the intake of beans, milk, various vegetables and animal protein is insufficient, then the noodle meal may be a meal of very low nutritional quality.

It is also important to understand that the GI value is not the only indicator for evaluating healthy diets. The nutritional balance of the food must also be considered, including the caloric content of the food, especially the nutrient density. For example, vermicelli has a very low GI value, but its nutritional value is also low. Eating a nutritionally unreasonable meal for a long time will inevitably weaken the body's ability to control blood sugar.

Knowledge point 8: How can we improve the nutritional value of eating noodles?

After all, noodles are just made of flour. If you eat noodles with a small amount of salty sauce, in a large sense, it is similar to eating steamed buns with pickles. Apart from the nutrients in the noodles, the nutrients in other foods are seriously insufficient.

For example, flour does not contain vitamin C, vitamin A and vitamin B12, but very little vitamin B1, B2, B6 and folic acid, very little calcium, seriously insufficient iron and zinc, and not enough protein... The B vitamins in the cooked noodles dissolve into the soup, and there is also loss caused by the addition of alkali, so the content is even much lower than that in steamed buns and pancakes.

Relying only on noodles and salty soup to fill your stomach is actually fooling yourself. Over time, the nutrients needed for normal metabolism are not supplied enough, and the body will sooner or later become a "tofu dregs project".

Therefore, when eating noodles, don't just think about how to save trouble, but also think about how to satisfy your body. A variety of vegetables, as well as meat, eggs, soy products, etc., should be taken care of in noodle meals. Each meal should ensure at least 150 grams of fresh vegetables, preferably more than 3 kinds of vegetables, plus about 50 grams of animal protein food.

For example, cut a few slices of braised beef, add a poached egg, a handful of shredded tofu, cook a few heads of rapeseed, add some shredded carrots, cut some shredded cabbage, blanch a handful of mushrooms, and serve with one or two cold vegetables... It actually only takes a few minutes, but it can greatly improve the quality of the food in the noodle meal.

At the same time, considering that sweating in summer requires more potassium and B vitamins, you can drink some soup made from red beans, mung beans, lentils and other bean seeds after the noodle meal, and eat some millet porridge, eight-treasure porridge and other staple foods made from whole grains and beans for the next meal, so that you can enrich your B vitamins and potassium, which can also improve your nutritional supply throughout the day.

In short, noodles are part of the summer diet, but you can't eat noodles every day. It's best to eat only one noodle meal a day. When eating noodles, try to prepare more ingredients to improve the nutritional quality of noodles. Only by eating enough nutrients can you better cope with the test of the hot climate in summer and stay energetic!

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