Salt and Glutamate
Believe it or not, we do not need any added salt in our food at all. We do not even need any monosodium glutamate (MSG) added. We have heard that salt and MSG are flavour enhancers, in fact I would agree they do. They do have an effect of making the food more flavourful, more palatable and have a better mouthfeel. In short, foods taste better.
However, you must know that we can get both sodium and glutamate in natural foods, such as vegetables, fruits and meat. If we can get them from the food we eat, why do we need to add more of them into our diet? Furthermore we know that salt is one of the culprits that causes hypertension. Meanwhile, there has not been extensive scientific research done on the health effects by MSG.
GLUTAMATE
According to data from the seminar I attended yesterday, glutamate is naturally found in many foods such as foods high in protein, mushrooms and scallops.
We can get 140 mg of glutamate in per 100 g of fish, tomatoes and mushrooms. Surprisingly, walnuts has as high as 658 mg of glutamate per 100 g and Parmesan cheese - 1200 mg per 100g!
SODIUM
As for sodium, the most common is the table salt that we use for cooking. Processed foods has an abundant of it, while fresh foods has much lesser. Sodium is usually found in a bound form, where Na+ attaches itself to other elements or molecules.
Even baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) has sodium, so it means all bakery products already has lots of sodium even though there are no added salt. No wonder cornflakes are no longer really healthy even though we are made to believe so.
The preservative sodium benzoate used for preserving meat products such as sausages also has bound sodium. With more salt added to enhance flavour, you can figure how much sodium you get from just one sausage.
According to the data I get from the talk, one teaspoon of soy sauce has 340 mg of sodium; one teaspoon of MSG has 615 mg of sodium and even one tablespoon of chilli sauce has 200 mg of sodium!
Do you ever think you can escape from salt? No way. Anyway, our body needs salt, but research has shown that we only need 100 mg per day to function.
When we eat more salt, our poor body has to regulate the excess salt and can tolerate up to 2000 mg without adverse effects. But, why put our body through such abuse? We are killing ourselves softly, isn't it?
However, you must know that we can get both sodium and glutamate in natural foods, such as vegetables, fruits and meat. If we can get them from the food we eat, why do we need to add more of them into our diet? Furthermore we know that salt is one of the culprits that causes hypertension. Meanwhile, there has not been extensive scientific research done on the health effects by MSG.
GLUTAMATE
According to data from the seminar I attended yesterday, glutamate is naturally found in many foods such as foods high in protein, mushrooms and scallops.
We can get 140 mg of glutamate in per 100 g of fish, tomatoes and mushrooms. Surprisingly, walnuts has as high as 658 mg of glutamate per 100 g and Parmesan cheese - 1200 mg per 100g!
SODIUM
As for sodium, the most common is the table salt that we use for cooking. Processed foods has an abundant of it, while fresh foods has much lesser. Sodium is usually found in a bound form, where Na+ attaches itself to other elements or molecules.
Even baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) has sodium, so it means all bakery products already has lots of sodium even though there are no added salt. No wonder cornflakes are no longer really healthy even though we are made to believe so.
The preservative sodium benzoate used for preserving meat products such as sausages also has bound sodium. With more salt added to enhance flavour, you can figure how much sodium you get from just one sausage.
According to the data I get from the talk, one teaspoon of soy sauce has 340 mg of sodium; one teaspoon of MSG has 615 mg of sodium and even one tablespoon of chilli sauce has 200 mg of sodium!
Do you ever think you can escape from salt? No way. Anyway, our body needs salt, but research has shown that we only need 100 mg per day to function.
When we eat more salt, our poor body has to regulate the excess salt and can tolerate up to 2000 mg without adverse effects. But, why put our body through such abuse? We are killing ourselves softly, isn't it?
Labels: food and nutrition
posted by redsmoke at
2:23:00 AM
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