Almost half of us think food can only be frozen the day we buy it – and 38% think you can’t refreeze cooked meat.
我們當中有接近一半的人都認為食物只能在購買當天冷藏,38%的人則認為熟肉制品不宜冷藏。
According to a new poll for the Food Standards Agency (FSA), there is widespread confusion around the safety of frozen food as households waste the equivalent of about six meals a week. And it’s not just frozen food we get in a pickle about – more than two thirds of those surveyed by the FSA had thrown food away in the past month, including bread, fruit, vegetables and leftover meals which probably would have been fine.
So, it seems, when it comes to food myths, we all could do with learning a few home truths. Here top nutritionist Juliette Kellow takes us through what’s really true when it comes to food no nos and what’s just an old wives’ tale...
2 MYTH: Frozen and canned fruits and vegetables are less nutritious than fresh ones
傳聞2:冷凍或罐頭果蔬與新鮮果蔬相比營養成分更少。
TRUTH: Fruit and veg that are to be canned or frozen are usually processed very quickly after they’ve been picked. This means they retain most of their vitamins and minerals. In contrast, many ‘fresh’ fruit and veg may have travelled long distances, been stored for some time, and then spent days on the supermarket shelves and in your kitchen, during which time, many nutrients such as vitamin C and folate (a B vitamin) will have been lost.
3 MYTH: Raw carrots are more nutritious than cooked ones
傳聞3:生胡蘿卜比熟胡蘿卜更具營養。
TRUTH: Cooking actually increases carrots’ nutritional value because their tough cellular walls are broken down in the process, allowing the body better access to beta-carotene, which the body uses to make vitamin A.
4 MYTH: Eggs should be avoided because of their high cholesterol content
傳聞4:雞蛋的膽固醇過高,不宜多食。
TRUTH: For years the humble egg has been considered a health risk due to its high cholesterol content – but health experts now know that the cholesterol in food has little impact on our blood cholesterol (unless we have a genetic condition that predisposes us to high cholesterol).
Instead, it’s high intakes of saturated fats that increase the cholesterol in our blood, putting us at risk of heart disease.
事實上,過度攝取飽和脂肪酸才會增加人體血液中的膽固醇含量,同時也會提高患心臟病的風險。
Eggs are also a good source of inexpensive, high quality protein – great if you’re a vegetarian – as well as many other nutrients including zinc, iron and vitamin D.
TRUTH: There’s no medical reason to limit foods when you’re feverish – but you might have less of an appetite meaning you can’t tolerate many foods. The raised temperature with a fever actually increases your metabolic rate, which burns more calories, so it actually becomes more important to take in extra calories.
The priority though should be making sure you drink plenty – all the sweating that goes with a fever means your losing more fluid than normal and so can quickly become dehydrated.