Preserved foods often contain a lot of salt, sugar, or alcohol.Ingredients,are considered harmful to health.Now that winter is here and the season for home preservation has arrived, should we continue making these preserved foods?What harm do they actually cause?

What exactly in preserved foods is harmful?

Actually, its harms are mainly two:

(1) Certain preservatives may have excessive nitrites,which can form stronger carcinogenic "nitrosamines" with amino acidsfrom protein foods.

(2) Too much salt or sugar is not beneficial to people with chronic diseases.

But note that it's a shame to say something is harmful based solely on its components without considering the actual metabolic environment and dosage!

If you only say eating preserved vegetables containing nitrites causes cancer, then everything in your life would be considered carcinogenic too!Like phones, any plastic products, or even skincare products used frequently.

So, are preserved foods really as toxic and carcinogenic as rumors suggest?

Firstly: Which types of preserved food contain more 'cancer-causing' nitrites?

Actually, the main issue is with preserved vegetables, especially those preserved in a short time, known as "quick-fermented" or "quick-preserved" foods.Vegetables preserved for over a month are completely safe to consume.

Turns out, nitrites come from high levels of nitrates found in vegetables.During the preservation process, some bacteria convert these nitrates into toxic nitrites, causing problems.

However, these nitrites will be gradually utilized or broken down by bacteria over time, eventually disappearing.

Moreover, for preserved foods to produce nitrites, factors like temperature, salt content, and time are involved,

as well as the initial presence of large amounts of nitrates in the raw materials. Chicken/duck eggs, tofuand other foods do not contain significant amounts of nitrates.Therefore, excessive salt is their main unhealthy factor after salting.