4 ways to eat pickled eggplant that Vietnamese people love but can easily cause poisoning and cancer

Change your salted eggplant eating habits below, your body will thank you very much.

Ways to eat pickled eggplant that are harmful to health

Pickled eggplant is a rustic dish that goes well with rice and is loved by Vietnamese people. However, eating pickled eggplant incorrectly can cause illness. Experts say that certain ways of eating pickled eggplant can cause food poisoning and cancer.

Overview of eggplant

According to Oriental medicine, eggplant has a sweet taste, cold properties, and the effects of dispersing blood, reducing inflammation, relieving pain, laxative, diuretic, treating toxic swelling and dampness, eliminating lumps in the abdomen, and tuberculosis.

Eggplant is a favorite dish of many people. (Photo: VTC).

Oriental medicine calls eggplant di tu or gia tu, ai qua , and popularly it is also called eggplant salad, eggplant, or salted eggplant.

Eggplant is also known as white-flowered eggplant, scientific name Solanum torum. It is a small plant with shallowly lobed leaves and thorns. The flowers are white, the fruit is white and turns yellow when ripe. The whole plant can be used as medicine.

Eggplant is often used to treat pain in the lumbar region, injuries from falls; stomach pain, toothache; amenorrhea; chronic cough. Use 10-15 g of root, in decoction form.

100g of eggplant provides 1.5g of protein (with all the amino acids needed by the body), 12mg of calcium, 0.7mg of iron, 18mg of magnesium, 16mg of phosphorus, 22.1mg of potassium, 0.3mg of zinc. In addition, eggplant contains copper and selenium, which are valuable trace minerals.

Many vitamins such as provitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B1, B2, PP are also found in eggplant. The eggplant seeds, which have many small hairs, can cause coughing. However, no research has been published on this harmful effect. The amount of sitosterol is not worth worrying about, but it contains toxic solanine. Unripe eggplants contain more solanine than ripe ones.

Insufficiently fermented pickled eggplant contains the toxin solanine.

1. Eating pickled eggplant is not fermented enough.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Duy Thinh (former lecturer at the Institute of Food Science and Technology, Hanoi University of Science and Technology), salted eggplants that are not sufficiently fermented contain the toxin solanine. Especially in eggplants with green skin, the amount of solanine is 10-15 times higher than the safe level when exposed to the body.

This substance is the poison found in the green sprouts or green parts of potatoes. Even small amounts of solanine can cause poisoning.

In the summer, women often have the habit of making pickled eggplants, even pickling them for a few hours and then eating them right away. Eating pickled eggplants with soup is very delicious, cooling the hot summer. However, experts warn that eating pickled eggplants this way does not ensure that the eggplants are fermented. In fact, the eggplants are still raw, so the risk of poisoning due to solanine contamination is difficult to avoid.

2. Eating pickled eggplants in a plastic container that used to contain paint

Pickled eggplant in paint cans is very dangerous for health

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Duy Thinh said that pickled eggplants in paint cans are very dangerous to health and can even cause cancer.

Experts share that most paint containers are made from plasticized polymers, which are made up of simple substances called monomers . During the manufacturing process, these molecules can still exist and dissolve in water.

Therefore, when we salt eggplants, this substance can dissolve in salt water. Then it will seep into the eggplants, enter the blood, cells through food, and over time can cause cancer.

Not to mention the residual additives and colorants left in the paint can also cause poisoning when eating pickled eggplant. Over time, it will accumulate into chronic poisoning called cancer.

This is a story that can happen if you do not pickle eggplants at home. Buying pickled eggplants at the market will almost always use large containers to pickle the eggplants due to high demand, increasing the risk of disease.

3. Eating pickled eggplant that is too salty

Pickled eggplants that are too salty will increase the risk of chronic diseases.

For many people, eating salty pickled eggplant is delicious and can be eaten with a lot of rice. Therefore, many women add a lot of white salt when pickling eggplant. However, this habit is very bad for health and produces extremely toxic carcinogens.

According to the Ministry of Health's survey data, currently, on average, each Vietnamese person is eating 2-3 times more salt than the recommended amount of 5g/day.

It is worth mentioning that over the years, the salty eating habits of Vietnamese people have had clear consequences through numbers. According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2017, more than 541,000 Vietnamese people died.

Of which, the cause of non-communicable diseases accounts for 76%, with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, gout. Especially stomach cancer.

And it is not an exaggeration to say that on the Vietnamese dinner table, dishes such as overly salty pickled eggplant constantly appear, increasing the risk of chronic diseases.

4. Eat pickled eggplants that have yellow or black scum

Pickled eggplants that have been left for a long time show that they have turned sour and will have a scum. However, if the scum turns yellow or black, it is best to throw it away. The discolored scum shows that the pickled eggplants have been infected with toxic fungi. Eating this type of eggplant for a long time will definitely cause you to unfortunately get cancer.

Before salting eggplants, wash the ingredients and salting tools thoroughly.

However, many women believe that pickled eggplants are still delicious, just wash off the scum and serve to the whole family. In fact, mold can penetrate each eggplant. Washing only solves the external problem, visible only to the eye.

Regarding eggplant, General practitioner Bui Dac Sang, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi Oriental Medicine Association, said that green eggplant contains the toxic substance solanin at a dose of 2-5 mg/kg of body weight, which can cause poisoning symptoms. A dose of 4-6 mg/kg of body weight can be life-threatening.

Symptoms of solanine poisoning usually appear within 8-12 hours of consuming food but can also occur within 30 minutes of consuming foods high in solanine.

"Currently, in some places, people still eat pickled green eggplant. This habit is unsafe and can be harmful. Pickled eggplant has not been fermented and is not sour enough, so it can easily cause poisoning," said Mr. Sang.

When eating pickled eggplant, what should you follow to avoid causing illness for the whole family?

1. Pickled eggplants should be salted in ceramic or earthenware jars without flashy decorations or colors.
2. White plastic pickle jar, durable and flexible, made from PVC plastic, ensuring safe quality.
3. Before salting eggplants, wash the ingredients and salting tools thoroughly.
4. Create a good fermentation environment and maintain hygiene during the salting process.
5. When you take out the eggplant to eat and it still has a bitter taste, you should stop and not eat it anymore.
6. Do not eat pickled or pickled eggplants with yellow or black scum.
7. Do not eat pickled eggplant or pickled eggplant with shrimp paste.

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Do not eat pickled melons and eggplants.

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