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Natural foods help limit metabolic diseases. (Image: Illustration)

Flavor enhancers and metabolic diseases

Imagine your body as a car that needs fuel to run. The car's engine converts energy from gasoline to run smoothly. The car needs the right type of gasoline, free from impurities.

Our bodies are the same. To function smoothly, we need the "right" food. But what constitutes "right," and what happens if we eat the wrong kind? Is it possible for the body to be damaged by having to metabolize things that are "not food"?

Traditionally, the savory flavor (umami) can be achieved by simmering vegetables, fruits, bones, and meat. During cooking, the proteins in the food release amino acids in balanced proportions, including glutamate – which gives the dish its savory flavor. This is natural umami.

But what about the umami flavor from MSG, seasoning powders, or other flavor enhancers? MSG, with its combination of sodium and glutamate, is intended to stimulate taste buds, but it can have unforeseen consequences.

When we eat salty foods, we naturally reduce our food intake. Unlike MSG, which stimulates nerve impulses, creating a feeling of hunger, it also introduces excessive amounts of sodium into the body without the body realizing it, leading to increased blood pressure.

High levels of glutamate continuously stimulate nerve cells in the hypothalamus, leading to overload and even destruction. Over time, the body constantly experiences symptoms of depression, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, chronic fatigue, and increased sensitivity to pain, later leading to diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's.

These nerve regions also receive the hormone leptin, which reduces appetite after a meal. When leptin isn't working, you tend to eat incessantly, leading to obesity.

Half-truth

Compared to MSG, refined oils and industrially produced oils extracted from plants, including fruits or seeds, are somewhat more sophisticated. Modern nutritional medicine tends to advocate the use of vegetable oils instead of animal-derived fats.

They claim that vegetable oils, which have a high percentage of unsaturated fats, are very good for cardiovascular health. Using oil is a trend because it's believed to improve health, reduce atherosclerosis, and lower the risk of stroke. This is true, but only half the truth. Why is that?

The production of refined oils involves high-temperature heating processes that destroy all the "living nutrients" in plants, including omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E. These are natural compounds with powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Unlike synthetic vitamins added to oils, the natural structure of the components in plants is compatible with the body and is safely metabolized.

Vitamin E protects unsaturated fatty acids, which are easily oxidized in oils. Refined oil manufacturers replace this by adding artificial preservatives to ensure the oil does not deteriorate during storage, thus extending its shelf life.

In refined oils, the ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fatty acids is unbalanced, so when consuming large amounts of oil, the body tends to create a continuous inflammatory response, increasing the risk of metabolic diseases.

Furthermore, the fatty acids in vegetable oils undergo hydrogenation, creating a particularly dangerous type of fat called trans fat. Trans fat affects liver cells, causing an excessive increase in bad cholesterol, exceeding the body's ability to process it.

Avoid processed foods.

Industrial sugar is sugar mass-produced in factories – it's a type of sugar that has undergone extensive manipulation, breaking down its original structure, refining, extracting, bleaching, and washing to create sugar. Some types don't even exist in nature but have a sweet, even super-sweet, taste, and most have no nutritional value. They are mass-produced and are often referred to as "white death."

Processed foods like sausages and cured meats contain high levels of nitrite preservatives, so their consumption should be limited.

All common forms of industrially produced sweeteners, including diet sugar, dextrose, refined sugar, corn syrup, and maltodextrin, share a common mechanism that stimulates the body to release dopamine.

Dopamine is a feel-good hormone that is also addictive. Some time after consuming sugary foods, dopamine levels spike and then plummet, forcing us to constantly replenish our sugar intake to maintain this euphoric feeling.

High blood sugar and insulin resistance significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Artificial sweeteners or diet sugars, which provide no energy, are even more dangerous. Insulin is produced by the pancreas to metabolize sugar.

Dietary sugars do not stimulate insulin production, meaning the body's fat cells cannot metabolize and store energy from food. The liver cannot properly metabolize fat and blood sugar, leading to high cholesterol and diabetes. Low insulin reduces the hormone leptin, causing constant cravings and obesity.

More broadly, sugary soft drinks, industrially produced potato chips, packaged cakes, candies, breakfast cereals, canned soups, sausages, hot dogs... are a combination of harmful substances, from refined oils, industrial MSG, and various types of industrial and diet sugars. This is not to mention preservatives and residual industrial chemicals from overly complex processing methods.

Avoid processed and industrially produced foods. Return to natural foods if you want good health and to minimize metabolic diseases.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/quay-ve-thuc-pham-tu-nhien-3144362.html