As the Chinese New Year is approaching, we Chinese people pay attention to reciprocity. Health care products are a kind of gift that can be brought to visit relatives, friends and elders.
People all hope that health care products can be beneficial to the body, but in fact most health care products are not as magical as the merchants advertise. Here are only five typical ones to talk about. I hope you don’t spend too much money on them.
Colla Corii Asini
Many people think donkey-hide gelatin has many magical effects: enriching blood, stopping bleeding, nourishing yin, moistening dryness, caring skin, preventing miscarriage, resisting fatigue, resisting cancer…
In fact, donkey-hide gelatin is boiled from donkey skin. The main component of donkey skin is collagen, which becomes partially hydrolyzed and purified collagen after boiling.
This protein contains a large amount of non-essential amino acids and lacks tryptophan, which is necessary for human body. It cannot meet the demand of human body for amino acids and is not a good source of protein. It is only used as an additive in the food industry of most countries.
Moreover, similar collagen can be obtained from boiled pig skin, sheepskin or cowhide. Donkey skin is not special to what.
The so-called magic effects of donkey-hide gelatin on enriching blood, caring skin and preventing miscarriage have no clear indicators, and the users often feel [effective]. Apart from their own feelings, so far there is no reliable experimental evidence to prove that donkey-hide gelatin has these magic effects.
Honey, Royal Jelly
Step 1: Honey
Legend has it that honey has various [health care] and even [medical] effects, but modern scientific research has found that vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients are relatively few.
Most studies have proved that honey has the same effect as placebo and has no what benefits for health.
More than 80% of honey is sugar, which is a kind of food with high calorie and single nutrition. Honey does not have what’s special [nutritional value], so it is OK to eat it, but it is true that if you eat too much, you will easily get fat.
2. Royal Jelly
If bee larvae only eat royal jelly, they will develop into queen bees. If they break the jelly early and eat honey and pollen instead, they will develop into worker bees-which adds a lot of mystery to royal jelly.
Later, scientists discovered that there is a protein in fresh royal jelly. Bees can promote the secretion of growth hormone after eating it and eventually develop into queen bees, while bees that cannot eat this protein can only develop into worker bees.
Many scientists have tested royal jelly on human beings, and the results show that there is no reliable evidence that it has magical effects. However, royal jelly used in scientific research is pure royal jelly. Only [heaven knows earth knows the manufacturer] whether the [royal jelly products] sold on the market have been added with other drugs to show [effectiveness].
In addition, we need to remind everyone that any bee product may contain a variety of allergens. If it is allergic constitution, we need to be cautious.
Bird’s Nest
Bird’s nest is the nest of Jin Siyan. Apart from swallow saliva, it is also mixed with marine fish, algae, velvet feathers, excrement, branches, etc. Businessmen claim that bird’s nest has the effect of “beauty beauty, nourishing and strengthening body”, but in fact it is not so magical.
Modern scientific research has found that there is a [sialic acid] (also called [bird’s nest acid]) in bird’s nest, which is considered to be [the most valuable nutrition in bird’s nest]. In some animal experiments, sialic acid has shown certain benefits, but it cannot be directly applied to human beings.
The protein content in bird’s nest is as high as 49.8%, but it does not cover all kinds of essential amino acids needed by human body. In terms of quality, it is far inferior to eggs. In addition, it is expensive, so it will not eat every meal and cannot produce special benefits.
Jin Siyan nests on the cliffs, collection is difficult, the output is very limited. The reason why there are a large number of bird’s nest health care products on the market, among which there are cheats, is an open secret. Moreover, a large number of bird’s nest collection also threatens the reproduction of Jin Siyan, so it is better not to eat it.
In addition, bird’s nest also has the risk of allergy.
Melatonin
When it comes to melatonin, you may not know it’s what, but when it comes to platinum, you certainly know it. Melatonin is contained in platinum.
Melatonin is an endocrine hormone secreted by the pineal gland of the human brain. The blood content varies day and night. As you get older, the secretion of melatonin will also decrease.
Some people think that oral melatonin can help regulate jet lag and even treat insomnia, but this effect is controversial. A meta-analysis in 2006 concluded that there was not enough evidence to show that melatonin can treat insomnia.
In 1993, melatonin was marketed as a dietary supplement in the United States, but it still requires prescriptions for sale in many countries, otherwise it is illegal.
In 1994, melatonin was listed in our country. Due to the advertising of [false propaganda, fabricated news, exaggerated efficacy and stealing concepts], it was punished many times by the competent departments of the industry, but it can still be seen on the market.
Medicated liquor
Various medicated wines are also one of the traditional supplements. After drinking wine, there is indeed a kind of warmth, but this is actually the reason why alcohol expands blood vessels and accelerates blood circulation, not the effect brought by [rare medicinal materials].
The composition of medicated liquor itself is complex, and the specific composition of many traditional Chinese medicines and other substances cannot be known, and may even interact with each other, affecting liver and kidney metabolism.
In addition, many medicated wines are brewed by themselves. Brewing is a complicated process. It is difficult for family brewing to meet strict hygiene standards. Harmful substances or bacteria are produced in the brewing process, which will cause damage to the body, ranging from diarrhea and vomiting to liver and kidney failure and even life-threatening.
If there are liver problems, hypertension, diabetes, high fat blood and other problems, it is even more important to do [not touch alcohol], and people should not persuade these people to drink during the New Year.
The existence of medicated liquor not only threatens the lives of all kinds of protected animals, but also wastes public money, which is not helpful to public health.
Maca
In addition to domestic health care products, some foreign health care products are also popular, such as Maca.
Maca is a plant native to South America. According to the propaganda of merchants, it can not only make men [nourish and strengthen the body, resist fatigue and improve sexual ability], but also [improve sexual function, treat infertility and irregular menstruation]. The same plant can improve the reproductive function of men and women at the same time, which is too exaggerated.
It is true that there are some reports that maca extract increases sexual function in experimental animals, but no human tests have found that maca can increase androgen levels. Some human tests have found that after eating maca for four months, the sperm count and function of men have improved, but this test was only conducted by nine people, which is really unconvincing.
More studies have found that Maca is ineffective or the effect is very weak.
As a food, it is OK to eat Maca casually (but many people say it is not delicious). However, the safety of Maca powder is still unclear, and businesses may mix other drugs into it to achieve the effect of strengthening yang.