Pork is also healthy and the key should be delicious right

Source: China Food News

Many people think that chicken and beef are healthy, but the nutritional value of pork is not necessarily the case. If the selection of ingredients is correct, the cooking is correct, and the matching is reasonable, pork is not only a good nutritional ingredient, but also contribute to nutritional diet. Although pork has advantages, it depends on how to choose and how to eat it.

Pork is rich in various nutrients

Some people think that the protein contains less protein in pork is that the protein content in some parts is low, but not the protein content of all pork is low. The protein content and fat content of meat are the same. In a piece of meat, if there is more fat, the protein will inevitably be low; on the contrary, if the fat is less, the protein content must not be low. The content of protein in lean pork such as end, through the spine can reach 20%, which is equivalent to beef and chicken. The protein content of peeling legs can also reach more than 18%. However, the protein content of pork belly is only about 10%, because the fat ratio is large, and even the gap between the lean fiber has accumulated fat. The pork neck meat is difficult to distinguish because of the high fat content, and it is difficult to distinguish with lean meat, so its protein content is only 8%. In addition, the amount of protein content in pork depends on the breed of pigs and the degree of fertilizer. If you just want to replenish protein, there is no problem to eat lean pork, not only beef or chicken breasts.

Overall fat, the fat content in pork is higher than beef and lamb, but it is also divided into different parts and different fattening methods, which cannot be generalized. For example, the fat content of pork spine and spine meat is only 6%-8%, which is equivalent to chicken leg meat. Fresh and delicious beef parts, such as the fat content of the upper brain, burdock, ribs, etc., can reach 18%-30%, which is higher than the peeled pig's hips, pork elbow sticks, and pork leg meat. As for those fat, cook a layer of oil in the pot, and fried fat beef, fat mutton, snowflake beef, fat content exceeds 30%. The composition of fatty acids in animal meat has large differences due to different feed and different activity amount.

Vitamin thin pork contains a variety of B vitamins, including vitamin B1 rich in content. Vitamin B1 is an important auxiliary factor in energy metabolism. It is necessary for muscle strength, heart function, and brain activity. If there is a lack of vitamin B1, people will feel fatigue, emotional frustration, dull thinking, muscle pain or numbness, and may also cause abnormal heartbeat, heart expansion, indigestion, edema, etc. The main sources of vitamin B1 are whole grains, beans, lean pork, milk and animal liver. When fried and stewed, in order to make the meat taste tender and stronger, alkali is often added (composite tender meat powder often contains edible alkali), which leads to a significant increase in vitamin B1 loss.

Although heme iron pork, beef, and mutton are red meat, they are different in redness, and pork belongs to the whitest of them. It can be seen visually that the color of the meat is more red than beef, lamb or donkey meat. The red of meat is closely related to the heme iron content in it. The color of pork is not so red because the hemoglobin iron content is low. For people who need to supplement iron, the higher the heme iron content, the better. However, for people without iron deficiency anemia, hemoglobin iron intake is too high, but it will promote inflammatory response. This is one of the reasons why eating more red meat is not good for health.

Pork should be cooked with a variety of ingredients

If you eat lean pork with less oil, the calories will not be very high; if you eat fried, fried meat, and meatballs with a lot of fat, the calories will be very high.

The calories of a dish depends to a large extent on the way of cooking. The fat content of pork can be reduced by cooking. For example, through the stewing method, cook a part of the oil in the meat, and then separate it; steam the fat in the meat through the powder steaming method. It should be reminded that it is suitable for vegetable oil when fried meat. The fat in pork is half saturated fatty acids, and there are less polyunsaturated fatty acids, so it is suitable for cooking with oil rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids.

There are various cooking methods for pork, and it is suitable for mixed cooking with a variety of ingredients. If you want to add protein on the basis of eating less meat, pork with dried tofu is a good choice. Both are effective sources of protein. Mixing with shredded pork and shredded tofu, not only the fragrance of the meat, but also adding the rich calcium and plant protein of soy products. (Edit Li Chuang)

(Fan Zhihong, a professor at the School of Food and Nutrition Engineering, China Agricultural University)

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