Let's look at the fruity drinks first. The ingredients list will generally be marked with: white sugar, citric acid, aspartame, acesulfame K, carrageenan, sunset yellow, lemon yellow, sweet orange essence and sodium benzoate. It is not difficult to see that there are many food additives in the ingredient list. So, what do they do?
1. refined sugar
It can provide sweetness to drinks, at the same time, it can provide a lot of glucose to the body, which can raise blood sugar and provide energy for the body. But too much intake will cause a series of troubles. For example, it leads to dental caries, reduces nutrient absorption, causes anorexia, obesity, diabetes, gout and so on.
2. Citric acid
It is an acidity regulator, which makes the drink sour. Adding acidity regulator will make the beverage sweet and sour and taste better. Another function is that it can play a certain anti-corrosion role.
3.aspartame and acesulfame K.
They are all sweeteners, and the sweetness is many times that of sucrose, especially aspartame, which can reach 200 times. However, the content of phenylalanine in aspartame is relatively high, so patients with phenylalanine ketonuria should use it with caution. The cost of white sugar is higher, the cost of sweetener is lower and the sweetness is higher. Using sweeteners alone will have a bad aftertaste, and add appropriate amount of sugar to cover it up. Common sweeteners include sodium cyclamate, saccharin sodium, stevioside and sucralose.
4. carrageenan
A kind of thickener, the taste of the beverage without thickener is not good, and the feeling of drinking with thickener has a certain texture. Most thickeners actually contain a certain amount of dietary fiber, which is beneficial to human body and is also a healthy food additive in beverages. Common thickeners are guar gum, konjac flour, xanthan gum, pectin and so on.
5. Lemon yellow and sunset yellow
They are all food additives that give beautiful colors to drinks. Artificial pigment has a certain influence on human body, especially on growing children. A large number of pigments will interfere with the body's absorption of zinc. Over time, it will lead to zinc deficiency in children, which will affect children's physical development, intellectual development, taste disorder and reproductive function development in adulthood. Common pigments are bright blue, carmine and seductive red.
6. orange essence
It plays a "soul" role in drinks. Without the essence, this drink will lose its meaning. What flavor of drink will you put in it? Common flavors are strawberry, apple, blueberry and grape.
7. Sodium benzoate
It is a preservative used to keep the freshness of food and prolong the shelf life. Common preservatives are potassium sorbate and calcium propionate. Some drinks are added with nutrients such as carotene and vitamin C, which will also have a certain antiseptic effect, but the dosage is very small.
The rational and legal use and addition of the above food additives are permitted by the state. In the case of excessive intake, it is harmless to the human body, but they also have no nutrition. Don't listen to advertisements, which deify the function of drinks. The above is for reference.