Exhausted by a winter lack of vitamins, many Ukrainians try to start "vitaminizing", as soon as early spring vegetables and fruits appear on the shelves of stores. But you need to use them with caution. In large and bright early fruits often contains a lethal dose of nitrates.
WHAT IS NITRATES. Nitrates are the salts of nitric acid. They are present in all living organisms. Moreover, it is due to the nitrogen contained in them that the plants eat and grow.
IN WHAT DANGER? In a normal amount, nitrates are not capable of causing harm, but the excessive content of nitrates is dangerous to health. The use of vegetables with a high content of nitrates can cause oxygen starvation of body cells. Regularly eating vegetables with an excess of nitrates, a person can "earn" a headache, tachycardia, numbness of the muscles, hearing and vision impairment and disruptions in the thyroid gland. The most dangerous are such foods for pregnant and lactating women, as well as for young children.
FROM WHERE NITRATES ARE IN FIRST VEGETABLES. Sometimes, in order to get a crop as early as possible, farmers generously fertilize the land with chemical fertilizers, "overfeeding" plants with nitrates. In this case, nitrates accumulate in products unevenly. Most substances contain stems, stems and streaks. In the leaves of plants, nitrates are much less.
Most of all nitrates accumulate green vegetables: lettuce, parsley, spinach, green onions, celery, radish and cabbage.
The least nitrates are found in tomatoes, peas, beans, potatoes, sweet peppers and carrots.
HOW TO SAVE FROM POISONING BY NITRATES Try to buy fruits of medium size. The large size of vegetables and fruits is often achieved through chemical "feeding", which, together with the fruits will get your body. Also avoid too small fruits and vegetables. Their size can talk about premature harvesting, when the farmer artificially accelerated their maturation with nitrates.
Choose whole fruits without damage. If fruits or vegetables have traces of shocks, then at room temperature nitrates spread within the fetus at a double speed. It is also believed that the wormhole is a sign of an environmentally friendly product: "a worm will not get into a bad fruit". However, it is not. Nitrates are absolutely not dangerous for worms and insects.
Steep fruits and vegetables in clear water for at least half an hour. This will reduce the content of harmful substances in them by 10-30%. To get rid of the basic quantity of nitrates the cleaning of vegetables and fruit will help. It is necessary to remove the peel, get rid of stems and upper leaves.
Boil vegetables. When cooking from vegetables, up to 85% of nitrates. They remain in the water, so after cooking immediately drain the broth and safely eat vegetables for food.
FIRST AID. If, after eating early vegetables, you have abdominal pain, colic, vomiting or diarrhea, then perhaps it is poisoning with nitrates. In this case it is necessary:.
- clean the stomach by inducing vomiting;.
- Take activated charcoal (1 tablet per 10 kg of weight) or other absorbent. Also, the action of nitrates can neutralize vitamin C;.
- if symptoms of poisoning do not pass - call an ambulance.
And the most important advice - try to refrain from buying early fruits, vegetables and greens. If you are unable to cope with the temptation, then at least do not give such "early" to pre-school children, pregnant and lactating women, elderly and chronically ill people.
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