When you swipe your cell phone at midnight, the thing you fear most is not a horror movie clip, but a food video! Originally, it has been five or six hours since dinner, and it’s time for your stomach to sing an empty city song. Night snacks to eat or not, is a lot of late sleepers every day to face the soul torture.

But different from the “three meals a day need to eat on time in order to be healthy”, this extra meal is a lot of crime: unhealthy, not only will grow fat, but also cause cancer!

Does it mean that you can only comfort yourself by swallowing in the middle of the night when you are hungry? What should we do if we are so hungry in the middle of the night that we can’t sleep?

01 Late-night snacking itself does not cause cancer

There is no research on eating late-night snacks can lead to cancer, but if you eat late at night and eat too much, it can give you “heartburn”.

“Heartburn” is not actually a heart attack, but a discomfort caused by the reflux of stomach acid into the esophagus, which irritates the esophagus. If you have the habit of eating late-night snacks often, but also every time you eat a lot of food and then go to bed, there may be acid reflux, long-term repeated stimulation will increase the risk of esophageal cancer.

Therefore, for healthy people, if it is an occasional late-night snack, it is not a big problem, just pay attention to the shallow taste can be, don’t eat too full. And for patients with gastroesophageal reflux problems, it’s best not to eat after dinner because this may stimulate acid reflux and aggravate the symptoms of the disease.

02 Late-night snacking content have learned these five categories or forget about it

Although it is okay to eat a late-night snack once in a while, but not just eat anything. There are so five kinds of food, it is not very suitable to appear in the alternative menu of the night snack.

① Processed meat products

Sausage, ham, bacon, salami, etc. are processed meat products, try not to eat as a midnight snack, and usually have to reduce the frequency of consumption.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) under the World Health Organization classified processed meat products as a class 1 carcinogen as early as 2015, which means that there is sufficient evidence that processed meat products pose a carcinogenic risk to humans. And, the salt and calorie content of such foods are not low, and consuming them as a late-night snack is not conducive to weight control.

② Cakes, desserts, milk tea

Many families will have some small cakes and other snacks, for sudden hunger but not yet cooked in the case of “pad it pad it”, but for the midnight snack, they are not a good choice. This kind of food is not only high calorie, and generally contain trans fatty acids, regular intake of trans fatty acids will increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, obesity, cardiovascular disease.

So how can you tell if a food contains TFAs?

If the following information is labeled in the ingredient list of a food, it means that it contains TFA: phylloxera, margarine, margarine, hydrogenated vegetable oil, refined vegetable oil, wheat flour, cream, shortening, cocoa butter, etc. [2] It is important to note that TFA can be found in many food products.

And most cake and dessert products will contain trans fatty acids, however, some people may wonder after reading the Nutrition Facts table: why is the trans fatty acid content of “0” written on the table?

Because, China’s “General Principles of Nutrition Labeling of Prepackaged Foods” stipulates that as long as ingredients containing trans fatty acids are used, the content of trans fatty acids must be labeled in the Nutrition Facts Table. However, in the trans fatty acid content of ≤ 0.3%, meaning that the content of trans fatty acids is very small, can be labeled in the Nutrition Facts Table “0 “g.

Therefore, obviously in the ingredient list to see the ingredients containing trans fatty acids, but the nutrition facts table is “0”, do not be surprised to know that this does not mean that there is no, just the content is small.

③ Fried chicken

The classic line from Korean dramas: “On a snowy night, fried chicken and beer go well together!” Romantic as it is, this is actually not really recommended to eat at night!

The mouth-watering golden color of fried chicken comes from the Melad reaction after the batter is fried at high temperatures; the main ingredient of the overwhelming aroma is the carbonyl compounds (allylaldehydes) produced by fats and oils under high-temperature conditions.

Fried food is not only high in fat and calories, but also causes the loss of vitamin B, vitamin E and other nutrients, and also produces carcinogens benzopyrene and trans fatty acids. These are not conducive to good health and will increase the risk of obesity and other diseases.

④ Alcoholic beverages

That’s right, it’s not just fried chicken, but also beer is off limits, or any alcohol is best avoided! Again, no matter how much alcohol you drink, it’s bad for your health! “Proper alcohol consumption is good for health” does not exist.

A study published in the international academic journal The Lancet shows that moderate drinking is associated with an increased risk of stroke, heart attack, fatal hypertension and other diseases. Moreover, acetaldehyde, which is associated with alcohol intake, was classified as a class 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2012.

Alcohol consumption not only harms the liver, but also increases the risk of liver cancer, oral cancer, esophageal cancer, breast cancer, and colon cancer.

⑤ Sweet Drinks

If you can’t drink alcohol, why don’t you have a non-alcoholic happy drink? That won’t work either!

Excessive intake of added sugar not only increases the risk of dental caries, but also increases the risk of obesity and gout. The sugar content of sweet drinks are not low, such as the picture below, many people think that a brand of yogurt is relatively healthy, in fact, the sugar content is not low. 250ml down, drink down the sugar about 16g.

The “Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents” recommends that the daily intake of added sugar per person is preferably no more than 25 g. A box of sweetened beverages can almost reach the recommended amount of 64%, and then eat some other sugary foods, it is easy to exceed the standard.

How to determine whether it contains added sugar?

The ingredients list appears these words should be noted: white sugar, rock sugar, maltose, brown sugar, brown sugar, brown sugar, fructose, alginate, honey, XX syrup, etc., these are all belong to the category of added sugar. In addition, if there is milk powder also have to pay attention, because there is also sugar in milk powder.

03 Eat late-night snacks can choose these 5 types of food

① low GI fruit: such as apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, Chelsea, grapes, grapefruit, oranges.

② vegetables can be eaten raw: cucumber, fruit, lettuce, bell peppers.

③ Milk and dairy products: milk, unsweetened yogurt, low-salt cheese.

④ Nuts (just choose one): cashews (7 to 8), pawpaw (7 to 8), walnuts (1 paper-skinned walnut), melon seeds (1 small handful in shell).

⑤ Oatmeal: Choose one that has only oats in the ingredient list and has relatively high dietary fiber and protein in the nutrition facts table.

If you’re too hungry to sleep at night, you can choose any of these 5 foods to go with any of the above, such as: oatmeal + sundried fruit + unsweetened yogurt + cashews.

This is not only with a strong sense of satiety, hunger effect is obvious, and low calorie, stable blood sugar after meals, do not have to worry about fat. Time also has to pay attention to, it is recommended that 1 ~ 2 hours before going to bed to eat late-night snacks, it is best not to eat too full or eat to sleep, to avoid acid reflux.

Summarize:

Eating late-night snacks itself does not cause cancer, mainly depends on how to choose, as long as the choice of healthy food and with a reasonable, occasional late-night snacks can also eat a delicious and healthy.

However, we still have to remind everyone, in order to figure and health, try not to develop the habit of eating late-night snacks, no special circumstances or go to bed early!