Brief description of dietary taboos

There are pathological/pharmacological taboos supported by clear medical evidence, empirical taboos under the traditional food and nutrition system, social taboos at the level of cultural customs, and most of the statements on the Internet that "must not eat together" and "certain types of people must not touch certain foods" are exaggerated or wrong and do not need to be followed blindly.

When I was an intern in the nutrition department two years ago, I met a young man who had just been discharged from the hospital with gout. He was so greedy that he went to eat at a seafood food stall with his friends. He showed off three kilograms of shrimps and two bottles of cold beer. That night, he went back to the hospital because of severe joint pain. His uric acid level soared to over 700. This is a typical pathological taboo, and it is completely avoidable. There is also the often-talked-about "cephalosporins are gone when paired with wine", which is essentially a disulfiram reaction, which can be fatal in severe cases. For example, patients with phenylketonuria cannot touch foods containing phenylalanine, and people with lactose intolerance are likely to suffer from diarrhea if they drink fresh milk on an empty stomach. These are hard red lines with clear pathological and pharmacological support. There is no controversy. Just remember and don't touch them.

But apart from this hard-and-fast red line, the rest of the dietary taboos are extremely controversial. For example, the theory of "fawu" has been spread for many years. Some people think it is old feudalism, while others think it is really clever. Before, my cousin underwent minimally invasive surgery for uterine fibroids. Before the operation, her mother-in-law warned her not to eat beef, mutton, or seafood after the operation, saying that they would make the wound suppurate. However, after the operation, the bed doctor directly told her to eat more high-quality protein. She secretly ate steamed seabass several times, and the wound healed faster than those in the same ward, which shocked the old lady. But that’s not to say that “hair growth” is completely nonsense. I have a friend who does medical beauty. He just finished photon skin rejuvenation and didn’t believe in evil. He ate spicy hot pot with crayfish for two days in a row. His face was swollen and he had several inflammatory acne. Later, after doing some research, he found that this kind of food with high oil, spicy and high histamine content will indeed cause irritation on the skin. When the barrier is fragile and the immune status is unstable, the inflammatory reaction is aggravated. The old generation said that "food triggers old diseases". In fact, many times it corresponds to the dietary stimulation reaction during the immune fluctuation period. There is no need to kill them with a stick. If you are allergic, have just undergone surgery, or have chronic inflammation, there is no harm in appropriate dietary taboos.

There are also some taboos that have nothing to do with health and are purely social courtesy. For example, when visiting a Mongolian friend's house, don't eat dog meat in front of them. When going to a halal restaurant, don't mention pork. The people's beliefs and customs are there, and respect is enough. There is no need to make excuses by saying "pork is obviously more delicious." There are also many places in the South that do not allow cold food to be eaten during confinement. Although modern nutritional science says that apples and strawberries at room temperature are completely edible, but if the mother-in-law really cares, you can blanch the fruit in warm water for tens of seconds before eating it, and you will not lose much vitamins. You can also maintain family harmony, so why not do it?

The most outrageous thing is the pseudo-taboo that is flying all over the Internet, purely taking advantage of everyone's health anxiety to gain traffic. Two years ago, I read that "vitamin C and shrimps can cause arsenic poisoning if eaten together." At that time, my cousin had just eaten a pound of prawns and gnawed on two oranges. She was so scared that she cried and called me to have a gastric lavage. I calculated for a long time and told her that to reach the toxic dose, she would have to eat another 180 pounds of shrimps that were seriously contaminated with arsenic. It would be fine to eat normally, and she recovered. There are also "eating ginger at night is equivalent to eating arsenic" and "you cannot eat milk and eggs on an empty stomach." My tutor stays up late all the time to do experiments. When I feel hungry in the middle of the night, I make ginger tea with boiled eggs. I have found nothing wrong with my physical examination this year when I am over 60 years old. These statements are either talking about toxicity without considering the dose, or they only apply to a very small number of people with particularly sensitive stomachs. They do not need to be followed as universal rules.

In fact, in the final analysis, dietary taboos are really not that mysterious. Don’t touch the hard red line. When taking medicine, read the instructions on the taboos clearly. If there are clear allergens, stay away. For chronic diseases, follow the doctor’s instructions when eating. The rest can be completely flexible. There is no need to follow the online taboo list one by one. Your own body feeling is the most accurate. If you feel comfortable after eating and have no adverse reactions, then just eat it. If you have diarrhea, acne, or discomfort after eating it, just avoid it next time. It is more reliable than listening to the advice of many experts.