Myth: Shrimp frequently appears on our table because it is delicious and nutritious. Recently, several benefits of eating shrimp appeared on the Internet, namely, "shrimp can enhance human immunity, tonify kidney and strengthen yang, and resist premature aging". Is there any scientific basis for this statement?
Nutritional components of shrimp
According to China Food Composition Table (version 20 17), shrimp contains a lot of protein and trace elements such as sodium, calcium and iron. Taking the prawns that people eat daily as an example, the composition and content of prawns are analyzed (the content of various components in the food composition table in China is determined by the edible part of 100g). It can be concluded from the table that prawns contain about 69% protein except water. At the same time, although the overall contents of vitamins and trace elements such as sodium, calcium and iron in shrimp are low, compared with other meats, the contents of vitamins and trace elements in shrimp are relatively high.
Table 1 Analysis of Nutritional Components of Shrimp
Eating shrimp can improve immunity?
As early as 2009, through animal experiments, it was found that protein powder (rich in various protein) can significantly enhance the immunity of mice. However, due to the differences in dietary structure and physiological structure between mice and humans, the application of the experimental results to humans has certain limitations. For people, only when protein synthesis in the body is insufficient, protein supplementation can improve immunity. Excessive intake of protein under the condition that the human body is not short of protein will cause a metabolic burden on the kidneys, which is not conducive to health.
Therefore, supplementing protein in animal experiments can enhance its immunity; For people, it is only when the synthesis of protein in the body is insufficient, that is, when the exercise intensity is high or when they suffer from wasting diseases, it is possible to improve their immunity by ingesting substances rich in protein, such as shrimp.
Can shrimp tonify kidney and strengthen yang?
20 19 experts studied the relationship between zinc content in seminal plasma and sperm motility with male infertility as the research object. The results showed that the zinc content in seminal plasma of men with weak fertility was generally low. That is, the zinc content in male seminal plasma will affect sperm motility. Shrimp contains many trace elements, including zinc. This may be the source of "eating shrimp can tonify kidney and strengthen yang", but can eating shrimp really tonify kidney and strengthen yang? Tonifying kidney and strengthening yang, the theory of traditional Chinese medicine is to change the state of renal function through diet, medicine, exercise, qigong guidance, acupuncture, massage and other methods, but these can not be simply equated with improving sperm motility. So eating shrimp may improve sperm motility, but no research shows that eating shrimp can tonify kidney and strengthen yang.
Can shrimp resist aging?
Shrimp does contain some anti-aging ingredients, namely astaxanthin. Astaxanthin was isolated in 1930s, which has many physiological activities and great medicinal value. As early as 1990, scientists found that astaxanthin can prevent the peroxidation of rat liver mitochondria in vitro, which provides a good research idea for delaying aging. Because at the cellular level, the chief culprit of accelerating cell aging is the oxidative damage of mitochondria.
So, can eating shrimp resist aging? The answer is no, first of all, astaxanthin mainly exists in shrimp shells and cannot be eaten as food. Secondly, when ingesting astaxanthin from the diet, it is difficult for astaxanthin to be absorbed by the human body due to the influence of other dietary components.
In a word, shrimp has high content of protein and high nutritional value, so it is recommended to eat it, but it has no significant help in improving immunity, tonifying kidney and strengthening yang, and resisting aging.
References:
[1], Hu Yixiu, Hu, Ma Zhi, Yin Jin. Experimental study on protein powder enhancing immunity [J]. china tropical medicine, 2009,9 (02): 249-250.
[2] Tao and Cao Yan. Diagnostic value of serum sex hormones, seminal plasma zinc and fructose [J]. China Maternal and Child Health Care, 2019,34 (09): 2090-2092.
Dong Baolian, Guo Ling. Research progress of astaxanthin [J]. China Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 2019,35 (08): 821-824.
[4]Kurashige M, Okimasu E, Inoue M, Utsumi K. Inhibition of astaxanthin on oxidative damage of biofilm. [J]。 Physicochemical physical medical nuclear magnetic resonance,1990,22 (1).
Rumor expert:
Dr. Zhang Ranran, Peking Hospital
Dr. Wu Yibo from peking university health science center is the head of the youth group of the Special Committee on Medical Popular Science Creation of the Chinese Popular Science Writers Association.
Review experts:
Tang Qin, researcher of Chinese Medical Association.