"Bring me a sausage, thank you!" Have you ever eaten barbecued sausage on the street? Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, overflowing with fat and aroma. Compared with ordinary ham sausage, grilled sausage is more attractive, and it is also really delicious! In the eyes of most people, grilled sausages are not a healthy food. Some people even say that grilled sausages are made of starch, the meat in the grilled sausages is not "serious meat", and the grilled sausages are not clean. So what’s in the sausage? What effects will eating a sausage every day have on the body? In this article, we will talk about eating grilled sausages.
What's in the sausage?
The aroma of grilled sausages is wafting, and the color is attractive, some are golden yellow, and some are red. When you take a bite, you can see big chunks of meat in some, and some will burst with juice and oil.
The implementation standard for most grilled sausages on the market is "SB/T10279-2017 Smoked and Boiled Sausage". According to this standard, let's "dissect" a grilled sausage to see what's inside.
-Meat:According to the requirements in this standard, the raw materials for making grilled sausages are fresh (frozen) livestock and poultry products or aquatic products, which means pork, beef, chicken, duck, fish and shrimp meat, etc. are all acceptable.
If you are buying sausage online, you can look at the ingredient list of the product to know what kind of meat it is. Some products will also directly label the meat content.
As for the grilled sausages on the street, we buy them without packaging. Although we cannot know the specific meat and meat content, we can roughly judge it from the price and color of the grilled sausages.
An organization randomly selected 5 different types of grilled sausages at scenic spots, night markets, convenience stores, school entrances and other places in a certain place, with prices ranging from 2 to 10 yuan. These sausages were tested and found that the higher-priced ones had lower meat content.
It’s really “you get what you pay for”. In terms of the color of the grilled sausages, the grilled sausages priced at 2 to 3 yuan are long, thin, and reddish in color. The bright color is due to the addition of pigments such as monascus red and allura red.
-starch:Starch in meat products can enhance gel strength, improve tissue structure, enhance water retention, increase yield, reduce production costs, and can also prevent oil and water leakage in meat products and improve product quality.
But grilled sausages are not all starch as rumored. Some grilled sausages have very low starch content. According to "SB/T10279-2017 Smoked and Boiled Sausages", grilled sausages can be divided into 4 grades, including special grade, superior grade, ordinary grade, and starch-free grade. Among them, the starch content of special grade, superior grade and starch-free grade is very low, no more than 4%. Only the starch content of ordinary grade is relatively high, reaching 10%.
Figure: SB/T10279-2017
-Oil, salt and sugar:The main purpose is to enhance the taste and make you fall in love with eating grilled sausages. The salt and sugar can also play a certain role in preservatives and extend the shelf life.
-food additives:There are many food additives that may be used in grilled sausages, such as soy protein, nitrite, compound moisture retaining agents, pigments, flavors, etc. Among them, soy protein is a plant protein and is also a high-quality protein.
Adding soy protein to grilled sausages can improve the gelling and water-holding properties of the product and better retain water and fat. While reducing the amount and cost of added meat, it also improves the quality of the sausage and enhances its taste.
As for nitrite, some people may be "afraid" of it, but actually there is no need to worry too much.
Almost all the ham, grilled sausages, sausages, etc. we eat contain nitrite. In addition to protecting the color of meat products, nitrite also has a certain inhibitory effect on the reproduction of microorganisms, especially Clostridium botulinum. In food production, as long as it is used in accordance with the provisions of "GB2760-2014 Standards for the Use of Food Additives", there will be no problem.
What would happen if you eat one sausage every day?
Such delicious grilled sausages, I can't help but want to eat one when I see them. After all, grilled sausages are processed meat products. If you eat one every day, it may not be healthy!
- May gain weight:Don't underestimate grilled sausage, it is a high-energy and high-fat food. For example, the nutritional content of a certain brand of grilled sausages that is very popular on the e-commerce platform is shown below. The fat content is as high as 20.3g/100g, which is more than three times that of lean pork. The calories are 273kcal/100g. Eating one grilled sausage (about 50g) consumes a lot of calories. It is equivalent to a small bowl of steamed rice, and you have to run for 20 minutes to burn it off.
If you don't control your diet and don't increase exercise, and you have to eat a grilled sausage after three meals a day, you will really gain weight.
-Not friendly to blood pressure:Most of the sodium content in grilled sausages is not low, generally around 700mg/100g, and some are as high as 1000mg/100g. The sodium content of eating 1 grilled sausage (about 50g) is 500mg/100g, which is converted into 1.25g of salt.
The "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents" recommends that each person's daily salt intake should be controlled within 5g. If you have one grilled sausage every day, it will make the task of controlling salt throughout the day more difficult and it is easy to eat too much salt.
A high-salt diet is not conducive to blood pressure control and can increase the risk of hypertension and gastritis.
-May affect lifespan:Unexpectedly, eating grilled sausages can actually affect your lifespan! A study published in the American journal "Natural Food" in 2021 showed that each gram of processed meat will shorten human life by 0.45 minutes, and each gram of fruit will add 0.1 minutes to human life.
The 61 grams of processed meat in a hot dog will result in a loss of 27 minutes of healthy life, and when ingredients such as sodium and trans fatty acids are taken into account, the final loss of life span will be 36 minutes. The "61g of processed meat products in hot dogs" mentioned in the study are the sausages we eat. So, if you want to live longer, don’t show off your sausages!
-Increased risk of cancer:Grilled meat products produce polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are carcinogens. Furthermore, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) under the World Health Organization listed bacon, sausage, ham and other processed meat products as Category 1 carcinogens as early as 2015, indicating that there is sufficient evidence that processed meat products can cause cancer in humans, and sausages are also processed meat products.
The IARC concluded that each 50g of processed meat consumed per day was associated with an 18% increased risk of colorectal cancer, with the risk increasing as meat consumption increased.
Eat grilled sausages healthily, do this
Although we know that eating grilled sausages regularly is unhealthy, many friends just can’t stop eating it! Don't worry, don't hold back if you really like it. If you want to eat healthier, just follow the following suggestions.
①Look at the product label:First of all, you should buy sausages produced by regular manufacturers. Secondly, you should pay attention to the ingredient list and the information on the packaging, choose the one with more meat content, and give priority to special grade, superior grade, and starch-free products.
At the same time, you should also pay attention to the nutritional label and choose one with relatively low fat and sodium content, which will be healthier.
②Don’t buy too cheap street sausages:There are many grilled sausages on the street where you can’t see the packaging and don’t know the specific ingredients. Cheap, bright red and slender sausages are mostly made from chicken and have low meat content. If they are not from regular stalls, they may come from unknown sources and their quality is not guaranteed. It is best to avoid such sausages.
③Eat them together:When eating grilled sausage, it is best to arrange healthy "grilled sausage partners", such as fresh fruits and vegetables and soy products. Among fruits and vegetables, dark-colored fruits and vegetables are preferred, as they contain more antioxidants, such as anthocyanins in blueberries, purple cabbage, carotene in mangoes, carrots and pumpkins, and lycopene in guava, tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, etc. They have anti-inflammatory effects.
Fruits and vegetables also contain ingredients such as vitamin C, calcium, chlorophyll and polyphenols, which can inhibit the formation of N-nitroso compounds or other carcinogens and play an important role in preventing cancer.
The fat and cholesterol content of grilled sausage may be high, and excessive intake will affect blood lipid health. Increasing the intake of soy products and replacing part of the meat with them can significantly reduce total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels.
The legume protein contained in beans and the animal protein in meat can also form protein complements to improve protein absorption and utilization.
In addition, if you eat grilled sausages during the day, it is recommended to reduce the intake of other livestock and poultry meat and eat a balanced diet.
Summary: Although eating one grilled sausage a day can satisfy your cravings, it is not good for your health, so just take it easy! Do you like sausages? How often do you usually eat it?
References
[1]https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/TbBgIjEyjdQOaDcSzJlHuQ
[2] Ding Ling, Zhang Lifen, Lai Shaojuan, Chen Fusheng. Research on the application of plant protein in meat products [J]. Food Research and Development, 2021, 42(4): 193-197
[3] Sun Changhao. Nutrition and Food Hygiene. 8th Edition. People's Medical Publishing House. 2018
[4] Stylianou, Katerina Setal. "Smalltargeteddietarychangescanyieldsubstantialgainsforhumanhealthandtheenvironment." Naturefood vol.2,8(2021):616-627.doi:10.1038/s43016-021-00343-4
[5]https://www.cfs.gov.hk/english/multimedia/multimedia_pub/multimedia_pub_fsf_113_01.html
[6] Scientific Research Report on Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents 2021