Experts point out four major problems in home kitchens. Are you affected?

Data shows that the oil and salt intake of Chinese residents remains high, and sugar intake continues to rise, becoming a key factor affecting obesity and chronic diseases in my country. One of the important sources of our daily intake of salt, oil, and sugar is the family kitchen. However, in recent years, when people talk about "reducing salt, oil, and sugar", they mainly focus on pre-packaged foods and beverages, ignoring the kitchen and restaurant that are inseparable from the three meals a day.

The China Food and Health Information Exchange Center conducted a special survey in ten cities and found the following four common problems in household cooking.

Problem 1: Cooking tends to be “heavy”

The survey results show that the most commonly used cooking methods in home kitchens are "stir-frying and stir-frying" (63.89%), "braising and stewing" (49.79%), and "stewing and making soup" (47.88%). These cooking methods may use more salt, oil, and sugar. Although people generally believe that stewing and making soup are relatively healthy, in fact, if there is a lot of floating oil in the soup, it will also lead to excessive intake of fat. "Cold salad" can reduce the intake of cooking oil, but the frequency of occurrence in home kitchens is only 24.31%. In addition, 17.18% of people's most common cooking method is "frying and deep-frying", which is easy to consume too much fat and increase the risk of overweight and obesity.

In this regard, Chen Junshi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, suggested that people cook more steaming, boiling, blanching and cold dishes at home, and less frying. If you prefer to cook, pay attention to controlling the amount of salt, oil and sugar. When drinking soup, you can skim off the floating oil on the surface.

Problem 2: Eating pickles and sauces too frequently

Pickles and sauces are one of the common sources of "invisible salt" in households. Surveys show that 20% of consumers use them as a side dish frequently or even every day.

Ding Gangqiang, director of the Institute of Nutrition and Health at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, pointed out that salty vegetables and sauces contain high levels of sodium. If such foods are on the table, you can use less salt when cooking, or use low-sodium salt, reduced-salt soy sauce and other products. In addition to eating less salty vegetables, the following points can also help us reduce salt when cooking: do not add salt to cold dishes in advance; add salt before cooking; use less salt if you have added chicken essence or MSG.

Question 3: Some families frequently use sugar for seasoning

The survey shows that 54.92% of households use sugar for seasoning when cooking, among which 25.5% of households use sugar more frequently.

Liu Ailing, director of the Nutrition and Health Education Office of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, believes that dishes such as sweet and sour spare ribs, braised pork, sweet potato with candied silk, and sweet and sour pork contain a lot of sugar and should not be eaten often; ketchup, salad dressing, sweet noodle sauce, jam and other sauces generally contain a lot of sugar and should be eaten less. In addition, people like to add sugar when drinking grain porridge, white fungus soup, red bean paste, mung bean soup, milk, soy milk, coffee, etc., and often add sugar when making cold dishes and cooking. These seasoning habits will make you unknowingly consume dozens of grams of sugar every day. Try not to develop the habit of adding sugar for daily household seasoning. Drink less sweet soup, and it is best to limit the amount of sugar added to cooking to the level where the sweetness is not noticeable.

Problem 4: Lack of awareness of oil control

The survey shows that nearly 60% of households use animal oil when cooking. Households in Guangzhou and Sichuan and Chongqing use animal oil more frequently, while only 30% of households use oil limiters to help control oil.

Li Ning, director of the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center, believes that using an oil-limiting pot helps to understand how much oil is used in cooking every day. He recommends that consumers develop the habit of using an oil-limiting pot when cooking, and to reasonably plan the amount of oil used based on the number of people eating at home and the frequency of cooking. Animal oils contain relatively more saturated fat, and excessive intake is not good for health. It is recommended not to eat too much, and choose more vegetable oils such as soybean oil, rapeseed oil, peanut oil, and salad oil.

Not just "I know", but "I do"

Zhong Kai, director of the Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center, believes that a reasonable diet and "three scientific reductions" are the basis for ensuring health, and are also related to the overall nutritional health of thousands of households and residents. This survey shows that Chinese consumers are paying more and more attention to dietary health, but there is still a lack of scientific guidance on "three scientific reductions". Therefore, it is recommended that under the guidance of the government, all sectors of society take joint action to fully mobilize the forces of scientists, enterprises and industries to strengthen the publicity and guidance of "three scientific reductions", promote consumers to pay more attention to nutrition and health, and enterprises to actively upgrade product health. At the same time, when formulating health policies related to "three reductions" in the future, focus on the family kitchen, let the "three scientific reductions" truly enter every family kitchen, and better promote the Healthy China Action.

(Guangming Daily Omnimedia reporter Jin Zhenya)

Source: Guangming Daily Omnimedia reporter Jin Zhenya

Editor: Wang Yuanfang

Editor: Zhang Xueyu