Bi Yanxia
As the saying goes: when the autumn wind starts, the crab’s feet itch; When the chrysanthemums bloom, smell the crabs. Every autumn, hairy crabs covered with yellow fat are bound to occupy a place on the list of seasonal foods that people like. The National Day holiday is coming, and I believe many people can’t live without it. Hairy crabs are delicious. How can we "eat well"? Before enjoying delicious food, it’s best to know clearly the common sense of eating crabs, so as to satisfy both appetite and health.
one
Crabs have high beneficial fat content.
Speaking of crab species in China, there are probably hundreds. According to the origin, it can be divided into four types: river crab, river crab, lake crab and sea crab. What is a hairy crab? Hairy crabs, commonly known as river crabs, hairy crabs and clear water crabs, generally mature from September to October. But not all river crabs are called hairy crabs, and the species should be Eriocheir sinensis, and the weight should be more than three or two. It is said that the name "hairy crab" is well-known. At that time, crab catchers in Suzhou and Kunshan set up gates between harbors. The gates were made of bamboo pieces and hung with lights at night. When crabs saw the light, they climbed onto the bamboo gates and were caught one by one, so they were called hairy crabs.
People compare hairy crabs to the best taste. Zhang Dai, a writer in the Ming Dynasty, once said that eating hairy crabs has five flavors without vinegar and salt. So, what is the nutritional value of hairy crabs?
The edible parts of hairy crabs include crab meat, crab roe or crab paste. Although they are the same crab, their nutritional values are different. For example, every 100 grams of crab meat contains 17.5 grams of protein, 1.2 grams of fat and 65 milligrams of cholesterol; Every 100g of sea crab meat contains 13.8g of protein, 2.3g of fat and 125mg of cholesterol. Compared with crab meat, crab meat contains less fat and cholesterol. In addition, 100 grams of crab meat contains 6.09 mg of vitamin E, 126 mg of calcium, 2.9 mg of iron, 3.68 mg of zinc and 56.72 mg of selenium, and almost no vitamin A; 100 grams of sea crab meat contains 30 micrograms of vitamin A, 2.99 milligrams of vitamin E, 208 milligrams of calcium, 1.6 milligrams of iron, 3.32 milligrams of zinc and 82.65 micrograms of selenium.
Generally speaking, both river crabs and sea crabs are rich in vitamins and minerals, which can be regarded as high-protein foods.
Crab yolk and crab paste, the favorite parts of everyone, have similar nutritional components, mainly containing fat and cholesterol, and the fat content is high, which can reach 15% or more. This is one of the reasons why crab paste and crab roe taste delicious. In addition, the cholesterol content in every 100 grams of crab roe may be as high as 400 mg, and the situation of crab paste is similar. However, there is no need to worry too much. First, the time to eat hairy crabs in a year is limited, but it is good to eat them in moderation. Second, many of these fats are essential fatty acids beneficial to human health, such as linoleic acid, linolenic acid and arachidonic acid.
2
"Six types of people" eat less.
Some people love to eat hairy crabs, but when they think that crabs are "cold" food, they beat drums in their hearts. Cold, hot, warm and cool, don’t they refer to the human body’s feeling of external temperature? Why do foods have these differences? This is actually a statement of traditional Chinese medicine. The classification of cold, hot, warm, cool and equal attributes of food is based on the color, taste, growth environment, growth season and geographical environment of food, and also refers to the physical reaction of people after eating. Simply put, after eating food, the body feels warm and hot, and the food is warm and hot; If you feel cool after eating, the food is cold and cool. If the food is flat, it means that the food is flat and can be eaten every day.
Therefore, Chinese medicine believes that eating crabs should be based on one’s physical condition. In real life, is there anyone who is not suitable for eating crabs? The following six groups of people should be cautious when eating crabs, and it is better to eat less or avoid eating.
1. People with weak constitution, poor spleen and stomach function and insufficient gastric acid secretion should not eat crabs, which carry some pathogenic bacteria. Because everyone has different digestive ability and immune strength, their resistance to pathogenic bacteria and viruses is different. People with weak constitution, poor spleen and stomach function and insufficient gastric acid secretion are easy to be attacked by pathogenic bacteria and have discomfort symptoms. In addition, some people feel gastrointestinal discomfort after eating crabs because it is difficult to digest protein.
2. People who are allergic and prone to eczema should not eat crabs. For Chinese residents, aquatic products such as shrimps and crabs are the most likely food types to cause allergies, and there have been many studies on the related allergic diseases in protein. Therefore, people who are allergic to seafood such as shrimps and crabs should not eat crabs, otherwise it will easily lead to gastrointestinal smooth muscle spasm and vascular edema, followed by nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea and other symptoms. In severe cases, urticaria or asthma may occur, and even anaphylactic shock may occur. In addition, people suffering from skin diseases such as dermatitis, eczema and tinea should also eat crabs carefully to avoid inducing diseases or aggravating the condition.
3. People with colds and fever should not eat crabs because their gastrointestinal function is relatively weak at this time, and they can’t digest and absorb the high protein in crabs, which is prone to gastrointestinal discomfort.
4. People with hyperlipidemia, hypercholesterolemia and biliary tract diseases should not eat crabs, especially the formation of crab roe, crab paste cholecystitis and gallstones has a certain relationship with excessive cholesterol in the body and metabolic disorders. Crabs contain high cholesterol, with 460 mg of cholesterol per 100 grams of crab roe. Eating crabs is easy to make the disease relapse or get heavier.
5. Gout patients and patients with hyperuricemia should not eat crabs. Every 100 grams of crab meat contains 82 mg of purine. Gout patients should not eat crabs during acute attack, especially the soup made of crab meat or crab roe. Patients with chronic gout and patients with simple hyperuricemia should eat less.
6. Older people and infants should not eat crabs. Because the digestive organs of the elderly are declining, the digestive organs of children are not well developed, and their digestive absorption ability is no better than that of young adults. Therefore, eating crabs should be based on tasting. It should be noted that babies before ten months should not eat crabs, because high protein will increase the burden on liver and kidney.
three
Remember the five taboos of eating crabs.
After talking about people who are not suitable for eating crabs, I have to talk about five taboos for eating crabs. Otherwise, people who are suitable for eating crabs may also eat something wrong.
Avoid eating raw crabs. The body surface, gills and gastrointestinal tract of drunken crabs are covered with all kinds of bacteria and parasites. When eating crabs, they must be steamed or cooked thoroughly. Generally, after the water is boiled, it will take another 15 minutes to play a bactericidal role. The traditional method of eating crabs is steaming with ginger vinegar juice. This method is scientific, which not only ensures that bacteria and parasites in crabs are killed, but also ensures that the original flavor of crabs is not destroyed.
Some people like to eat raw crabs and drunken crabs, which are more delicious, but various viruses, bacteria and parasites attached to crabs will also enter the human body, which may cause food poisoning, diarrhea, abdominal pain and vomiting. Although the drunken crab is soaked in yellow wine and white wine, the crab itself is still raw, and alcohol cannot be completely sterilized. If the metacercariae of Paragonimus contained in drunken crabs enter the human body and develop into adults to lay eggs, it can seriously parasitize other organs such as human brain, skin and liver. Therefore, these two ways of eating should be abandoned.
Second, avoid eating dead crabs. After the crab dies, the bacteria in its body will rapidly multiply and spread into the crab meat, decompose the amino acids in the crab meat, and produce a lot of harmful substances. Therefore, eating dead crabs may induce vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Besides, it’s best not to buy a dying crab. In addition, crab meat is rich in histidine. When the crab dies, some bacteria containing histidine decarboxylase can decarboxylate histidine in crab meat to form a large amount of histamine under appropriate conditions. Histamine is a sensitizing substance, which can dilate venules and capillaries, promote the secretion of mucosa and glands, lead to allergic symptoms, and may even cause circulatory failure in severe cases.
Three don’t eat cooked crabs stored for a long time. Cooked crabs stored are easily contaminated by bacteria, so crabs should be steamed and eaten now. In case you can’t finish eating, the rest of the crabs must be kept in the refrigerator and eaten at the next meal. When eating, you must return to the pot to boil or steam thoroughly. It is recommended not to eat crabs overnight. Although heating in the pot can kill pathogenic microorganisms, it can not destroy toxins, and it is still dangerous.
Four don’t eat crab gills, crab stomachs, crab intestines, crab cheeks, crab stomachs, crab intestines and crab hearts. When the crab shell is opened, the gray-white strips and soft parts on both sides are the gill strips of the crab, which are the respiratory organs of the crab and are in direct contact with the outside world, and it is easy to accumulate dirt and heavy metals. Located in the front half of the crab shell and under the eyes, the triangular part is the crab stomach, and a black strip is the crab intestine. These two parts are the digestive organs of the crab, which contain food and metabolites, and may also accumulate dirt. Crab heart, commonly known as "hexagonal plate", is located in the middle of crab yellow or crab paste and is hexagonal, which is considered as the "coldest" part of crab. Here is an important part of the circulatory system, there is a lot of blood left, and its blood composition is quite different from that of the human body, which is easy to cause immune reaction.
Five avoid eating too much. As mentioned above, protein contained in crabs and cholesterol contained in crab roe are relatively high, and excessive consumption at one time is not conducive to human digestion and absorption. According to the recommendation in "China Residents’ Dietary Pagoda" of China Nutrition Society, the suitable intake of aquatic products is 40-75g (edible part) at a time, which is equivalent to 100-188g of crabs with shells, and it is best not to exceed 3 times in a week. A crab with a shell of 188 grams is roughly equivalent to a large crab weighing four times.
Hot spot dispelling doubts
Can crabs be eaten with fruits?
Many people have a question, can crabs and fruits be eaten together? Because there is a saying that pentavalent arsenic contained in seafood may react with vitamin C and produce toxicity.
In China, seafood sold in formal channels needs to be tested by relevant departments, and the arsenic content should not exceed 0.5 mg per kilogram stipulated by national standards. According to this calculation, a person needs to eat 150 kilograms of seafood and more than 10 kilograms of fruit at a time to have a toxic reaction, which is simply impossible. Moreover, some researchers have conducted research in simulated gastric juice and found that vitamin C alone cannot reduce pentavalent arsenic to trivalent arsenic (arsenic). Therefore, it is not true that you can’t eat fruits and vitamin C tablets when eating seafood such as crabs and shrimps.
Can pregnant women eat crabs?
I believe that many women will be reminded that they can’t eat crabs when they are pregnant or pregnant. The reason is usually that crabs are cold and have the effect of promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis. After eating, they will make the blood flow downward, which will easily lead to miscarriage and miscarriage. There are not a few people who hold this view, so is this true? The answer is no, there is no statistical data showing that abortion is related to eating crabs. Abortion of pregnant women after eating crabs is often due to eating crabs by mistake, for example, pregnant women are allergic to seafood, crabs themselves are not fresh or have bacterial parasites. These pregnant women developed symptoms such as allergic reaction or acute gastroenteritis after eating crabs, and finally did not save the fetus.
Normal pregnant women can eat crabs, but if eating crabs when they are not pregnant is prone to gastrointestinal symptoms, it is recommended not to eat them when they are pregnant. In addition, pregnant women with weak constitution and weak digestive function should eat as little or no crabs as possible.
Extended reading
How to choose crabs
Selecting fresh and fat hairy crabs is a technical job. As the saying goes, "September round navel and October tip" means that the female crab should be eaten in September of the lunar calendar, and its navel is round, at this time, the female crab yellow is full of meat; The male crab should be eaten in October of the lunar calendar, and its navel is pointed. At this time, the male crab paste is full of meat.
After choosing male and female crabs, you can follow the following points when choosing healthy crabs.
First of all, pinch: pinch the crab’s back with your thumb and forefinger and gently shake it. The crab’s claws droop and shake with it. The crab’s claws are firm and swing by itself.
The second is teasing: you can tease the crab’s eyes with your hands. If it responds immediately, it means full of vitality; Or turn the crab over with its abdomen facing the sky. If it can turn its body quickly, it means that the crab has strong vitality, and vice versa.
The third is to look: the back of the shell is dark green and shiny, which is thick and strong; Look at the tail end, the navel protrudes, and the red color (commonly known as "red seal") will be revealed on both sides of the crab navel, which is generally full of cream and fat; Look at the hairy crab feet, the crab feet are old and healthy, and the crab feet are soft and weak without fluff.
The fourth is to try: if conditions permit, put the crab into a basin of water, and the live crab will foam.
(Author: Beijing Friendship Hospital Nutrition Physician)
