Whether iron soy sauce can eat for a long time

Iron fortified soy sauce is not new. Adding NaFeEDTA (sodium iron EDTA) to common soy sauce has been used to prevent iron deficiency anemia for 13 years. On October 21st, the Food Reinforcement Office of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention held the "II Ironmonitored Soy Sauce Project Launching Meeting". Since then, the media have repeatedly expressed doubts about iron sauce.

Questioning safety one by one: Reacting to safety questions: Sodium iron EDTA is a very strong complexing agent that can complex divalent metal ions such as calcium, zinc, and copper in the body, that is, it interferes with these minerals. And the absorption of trace elements leads to the lack of these trace elements in the body.

"Evidence for this argument is not mentioned in the report." Chen Chunming said that Richard Herrell, one of the world's top micronutrient experts, has engaged in research in this area for many years, using advanced stable isotope methods to conduct studies in women and infants. The conclusion is that the amount of iron nutrient enhancer with sodium iron EDTA as food has no effect on the absorption of zinc, copper, magnesium, and calcium, and there is no difference with the enhancement of other iron nutrition enhancers (such as ferrous sulfate). Does not cause the lack of the above-mentioned nutrients in the human body.

The safety question II: iron intake from iron soy sauce can reach 3 to 4 milligrams per day, which is several times the amount of iron needed by the human body. Whether or not the remaining iron can be deposited in the body can lead to long-term chronic effects. Chen Chunming thinks this is an understanding of deviations. She said: “It is a fact that 2 to 4 mg of iron is ingested from iron soy sauce, but the absorption rate of sodium iron EDTA in Chinese diet is 10%, that is, intake of 2 to 4 In milligrams, the amount of iron absorbed by the body is only 0.2 to 0.4 milligrams.” The average physiological iron loss per adult man is 1 milligram a day. Even if iron soy sauce is used daily, it only supplements 20% to 40% of the daily physical loss. The average daily iron loss for women of childbearing age is 1.5 milligrams. At the same time, the body's absorption of iron has a strong regulatory role, when the body is adequate, the absorption rate of iron will be reduced, excess iron can be excreted. The iron ingested from iron soy sauce does not equal the amount of iron absorbed, nor can it be multipled with the physiological needs.

Safety question 3: Excessive iron supplementation may cause cancer, cardiovascular disease and nervous system diseases.

"The report also gave no evidence." Chen Chunming asked: "The disease risk is to speak with iron intake dose, how much intake, how high serum iron to achieve the risk of disease?" And iron soy sauce various Scientific data from population observations have shown that hemoglobin levels in the non-anaemic populations of sodium iron EDTA fortified soy sauce are still in the normal range.

Chen Chunming said that the iron-fortified soy sauce had been researched for six years before being promoted, and the innovative synthesis of sodium iron EDTA, and whether its scale-up products had reached food grade, compared with international products, toxicological studies of sodium iron EDTA, and Chinese food conditions The absorption rate study, the observation of 300 people's anemia intervention effect, and the observation of the live effects of nearly 10,000 people, a large amount of scientific data proves the safety and effectiveness of this measure. The promotion practice in the following six years also verified the effectiveness of iron soy sauce in preventing and controlling iron deficiency anemia.

In addition, the Joint Food Additives Expert Committee of the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (JECFA) conducted a comprehensive assessment of the safety of sodium iron ED-TA as early as 1992 and concluded that sodium iron EDTA is suitable for use in food fortification. In 2007, JECFA concluded that sodium iron EDTA is a good source of iron for food fortification and is safe. To date, no adverse reaction report of sodium iron EDTA has been reported anywhere in the world.

Chen Chunming said: "At any time there may be different opinions, and scientific data may not be perfect, but we need to look at the mainstream of scientific evidence, and we must look at the scientific basis of the conclusion."

Is iron supplementation really important?

Iron deficiency is not only evident in China, but the World Health Organization has reported that it is estimated that about 80% of the world’s people have insufficient iron intake.

The fourth survey on the status of nutrition and health among Chinese residents showed that the average prevalence of anemia among Chinese residents was 20.1%; the prevalence of anemia among infants, over 60 years of age, and women of childbearing age within 2 years of age was 31.1%, 29.1%, and 19.9 respectively. %. According to the international agencies' level of public health severity of anaemia, the problem of anaemia among Chinese residents is a moderate public health problem. The problem of anaemia in some areas has already been a serious public health problem. Anemia is a disease state that is manifested when iron deficiency is severe enough to affect the quantity and quality of blood red blood cells. It is characterized by lower hemoglobin levels in the blood, hypoxic tissue in various organs of the human body, pale mucous membranes, fatigue, dizziness, and shortness of breath. In severe cases, the ability to work and work is reduced, and the ability to resist disease is reduced.

Cheng Yiyong, a nutrition researcher at the Institute of Hygiene and Environmental Medicine of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, said: “I have done a long period of research on nutrition and brain function in the laboratory. After iron deficiency, even if it does not reach the level of anemia, it will It affects the intelligence of children and affects their working ability."

Chen Chunming said that the diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia is complicated. If one person has inflammation or chronic disease, serum ferritin levels will be higher. One of the important indications for determining iron deficiency anemia now is that iron supplementation can correct anemia.

According to the statistics of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety of the College of Food Science and Technology at the China Agricultural University, any person who counts the number of people who actually lack iron is far more likely than an anemic person. He said that because of iron deficiency is a process, first consume the body of iron, and then produce some iron-deficient red blood cells, and finally produce anemia. Therefore, the anemia data cannot be used to explain the iron deficiency data. If it is 20% anemia, the iron deficiency may reach 40% to 50%. Therefore, most or at least half of Chinese residents need iron supplements.

Why is iron fortified soy sauce?

If iron deficiency can be improved by balancing the diet, it is the most ideal state. In fact, we can hardly do it.

According to Yang Xiaoguang, director of the Ministry of Health’s Key Laboratory of Trace Elements, the iron in the diet is generally divided into two forms: one is heme iron, which is the porphyrin iron in the meat. This iron absorption rate is relatively high, more than 10%; the second is the plant. In the iron, due to the combination of phytic acid and other inhibitors, the absorption rate of iron is low.

Since the meat has a high iron absorption rate, eat more meat? It has been calculated that an adult man should consume 8 mg of iron daily from a diet, 18 mg of a woman, and 27 mg of a pregnant woman. This recommended amount assumes that 75% is derived from heme iron, which is equivalent to eating approximately 0.7, 1.5, and 2.2 kilograms of pork per day. Obviously, this is not easy to do and is inconsistent with modern dietary beliefs.

Many countries choose to fortify iron in foods, such as the United States forcing iron in flour. Chen Chunming said that China is not the first to strengthen iron in soy sauce, but strengthening sodium iron EDTA is our innovation. Because the sulphate was previously fortified in soy sauce, not only was the absorption rate only half that of sodium iron EDTA, but also the rust taste of the mouthfeel caused soy sauce to precipitate and affect the quality. She said that, first, China did not choose flour, because there is a big difference between North and South China, soy sauce is common and self-limiting, and will not eat too much; second, we did not choose mandatory strengthening. She revealed that the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition is a supporter of the iron soy sauce project. From the very beginning, they discussed whether to implement mandatory iron fortified soy sauce. The iron soy sauce project expert group insisted on choosing through publicity and education to allow the people to accept it voluntarily. Chen Junshi, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of the Food Reinforcement Office, said: “We have only promoted to 9 provinces and municipalities since 2004, and we have covered 60 million people, far from our goal.”

According to data obtained from monitoring points in popularized areas, the anemia rate of iron-sweetened people fell by more than 30% after one year.

Chen Junshi and his team worked hard to promote iron soy sauce and preached the benefits of iron soy sauce. He insisted that residents should eat iron fortified soy sauce daily or regularly for the health of themselves and their families. The media often asked him: “Your experts say that 20% of people in China are anaemic. That means 80% are not anemic. Does 80% of people have to eat iron soy sauce?” Cheng Yiyong did research on this, he explained. Trace elements are divided into two categories, one of which is divalent cations such as calcium, zinc, iron, copper, etc. If the human body is deficient, its absorption rate can be high, if the lack is not serious or even lacking, its absorption rate can be Becomes very low and excreted through the faeces. Therefore, we do not need to worry about a few milligrams of iron to cause iron overdose.

No need for a third-party food safety information platform, Chen Chunming, said that in recent years, food safety related incidents have occurred frequently. When experts question each other, the public is often overwhelmed. She believes that China should also establish a third-party food safety information platform to provide the public with convincing evidence in a timely manner.