The colorful red ice is so colorful! Be careful when eating the pigment platter

One netizen said, "You have to eat ice in the summer, what else is there to do!" Recently, the rainbow ice that the male and female protagonists in Korean dramas eat on dates has also become popular in Taiwan. There are more and more bright and cold "rainbow shaved ice, rainbow smoothies, rainbow drinks..." in the market, just to make the summer colorful! Seeing the colorful colors can't help but marvel at the mystery of adding "food coloring" to the syrup, which can make people so appetizing and cool down.

The sun has been shining brightly recently, and the perceived temperature has easily soared to over 40 degrees. You are sweating profusely, but you cannot stop the irritability in your body. At this time, if you have a bowl of refreshing and popular rainbow shaved ice, you can take a bite and immediately get rid of the heat. Especially if it is drizzled with colorful syrup, it can not only cool you down but also satisfy your visual hunger.

Natural Colors vs Artificial Colors

Nutritionist Su Yanchen said that after everyone has enjoyed the rainbow ice dessert, have you ever thought: "What food can create such a dazzling light?" The answer is the pigment that cannot be ignored!

In today's age of processed food, it seems that anything that is not "pure natural" is associated with "toxicity" and "disease". However, pigments can actually be divided into natural pigments and artificial pigments. Natural pigments include dark green matcha powder, gray-purple taro, and bright red guava and beetroot.

However, natural pigments are easily oxidized and discolored, and are difficult to preserve, which in turn affects people's demand for the "color" of color and flavor factors. In order to better meet people's visual biased impression of "generalizing by appearance" and to make food look better, "artificial pigments" came into being, which greatly subverted the development of the food industry.

Pigments can actually be divided into natural pigments and artificial pigments.

We often hear about the side effects of artificial colors, including causing hyperactivity in children and damaging their intelligence. However, there is still no strong evidence. All we can say is that it is best not to give snacks to children.

Identify the 8 legal artificial colors

So, is it "best" not to have artificial colors in food? Nutritionist Su Yanchen said that in terms of overall considerations, we should not think in terms of binary ideas of whether to use it or not, but rather the question of the amount of consumption. Currently, Taiwan has approved eight legal artificial colors, but it does not allow manufacturers to add whatever they want. Instead, there are clear regulations that "fresh meat, fresh fish and shellfish, fresh beans, fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, miso, soy sauce, kelp, seaweed, tea, etc. are not allowed to be used."

The foods listed above not only affect people's judgment of the freshness of food, but also easily lead to the problem of excessive intake. Interestingly, although the table lists the above types of food, it is unable to regulate issues such as thick strawberry jam or passion fruit jam on ice products.

Look carefully at the legal artificial color number on the packaging

In fact, even if you don’t eat these jams, artificial colors are still inseparable from our lives. Bright and dazzling foods such as instant noodles and candies are usually accompanied by added colors. If you don’t want to eat artificial colors without knowing it, be sure to spend 10 seconds reading the nutrition label on the outer packaging before eating, and also write down the legal artificial color numbers available! These include blue No. 1, No. 2, green No. 3, yellow No. 4, No. 5, red No. 6, No. 7 and No. 40. All of the above are "legal" artificial colors. If you find that the artificial color number marked on the food is not included, you should put down the food you have as you may have eaten illegal artificial colors.

Lycopene and curcumin can replace artificial colors

Nutritionist Su Yanchen reminds that if you really don’t want to swallow unnatural pigments, there are also natural pigments to choose from, such as lycopene in tomatoes, curcumin in turmeric and curry, anthocyanins in grapes, etc., which are all good ingredients that can replace artificial pigments. However, as the saying goes, good fortune never comes alone, and natural pigments are prone to discoloration, oxidation, and are more expensive. A better way is to choose foods that are close to their natural colors, which is the best choice to reduce the intake of artificial colors.