Unhealthy Food

Nowadays, there are many issues about unhealthy food. People became aware of what they’ve eaten. But, in the other side, still many people who want to enjoy their life with delicious food. Frankly, we must aware with that “delicious food”. Because “delicious food” usually unhealthy or containing ingredient that is dangerous to our body.

Let’s take some example…

1. Formalin
Meat ball, tofu, noodle, fish, etc…. They all seem yummy, fresh, fluffy and delicious. But, can you imagine that there is formalin inside them. Actually, formalin is a chemical substance which is used for preserving dead body or human corpse. It is restricted for food.
So, if you look for some food-stuffs, be wise and beware. Below are some characteristics of food-stuffs with formalin inside:
· Have a very sting smell or sharp smell.
· Have a very attractive colour (meat ball and tofu usually clean white in colour).
· Too fluffy, not easy to broken.
· Fish still seems fresh altough it was few days ago, without any flies on it since it was too tought to eat.

2. MSG
Monosodium Glutamate is a kind of food additive and is commonly marketed as a flavour enhancer. Actually, the effect of this thing to our body is still under examination. FDA (Food and Drug Administration, or POM in Indonesia) concluded that MSG was safe for most people when eaten at customary levels. Unfortunately, there are people who have intolerance to MSG. The manifestation can be varied from mild allergic reaction (such as itchyness, sore throat) untill severe allergic reaction (shortness of breath).
In Indonesia, our government has regulation that forces food producers to write down in their product’s composition about how many miligram of MSG which they used. But, still, there is no strict regulation about maximum dosage of MSG per portion.

3. Chicken
Have you ever heard about “ayam tiren (mati kemaren)”? It means unfresh chicken. Since the need of chicken increased in Indonesia (especially in some occasion, i.e. Idul Fitri, Christmas, etc), the chicken seller became cheating. They sell unfresh chicken, chicken which had already died before the day they were sold. This kind of meat is unhealthy to our body. No guarantee about their nutrition inside.
Below are some characteristics of unfresh chicken:
· Seem pale or blue.
· There are blood spot and blood clot inside.
· Fishy odor.
· Decrease in size of the meat and skin.
· Sold with cheaper price than fresh chicken.

So…Friends, there were the examples of unhealthy food.
Don’t forget to drink a lot of plain water especially after eating unhealthy food. Water will try to reduce the bad effect of anything that is swallowed by our greedy mouth and appetite.

Ditulis oleh : dr. novitasari (Kimia Farma Tiban - Batam)
dr_novitasari@yahoo.co.id