China is a country that pays great attention to food. Not only does it require food to be delicious and nutritious, but it also requires dishes to have good symbolism. Fish, which represents the wish for abundance every year, is often an indispensable dish on the table during holidays and when entertaining friends and family. Many people especially enjoy eating fish heads and fish roe, believing that they are eating what they need to replenish.
Fish heads are delicious and tender, and eating fish heads is equivalent to nourishing the brain. Fish heads contain higher nutritional value than other parts of the fish, which can make people smarter. They are particularly beneficial for pregnant women and children. Fish heads contain abundant fish gelatin protein and carbohydrates, which are easily absorbed by the body and have a significant effect on beauty and skin health. There is a saying among the people: ladies who eat fish are more beautiful, gentlemen who eat fish are healthier, and children who eat fish are smarter. Some students who are preparing for the middle and high school entrance examinations often use fish heads to nourish their brains. Fish roe is located in the fish abdomen, surrounded by blood vessels, which is also beneficial for nourishment. In fact, this is not a good habit, as eating too much fish heads and fish roe can easily cause food poisoning.
Fish brains contain comprehensive and rich nutrients. They provide abundant nutrition to the brain, including a type of fish oil that is essential for the human body. Fish oil is rich in highly unsaturated fatty acids, which are the main components of what we call "brain gold". This is a necessary nutrient for humans, mainly found in phospholipids in the brain. It plays a role in maintaining, improving, and enhancing brain function, and is crucial for brain development. Therefore, there is a saying that "eating fish heads can make people smarter".
Fish roe is a nutritionally rich food, containing a large amount of protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamins, and riboflavin. It is also rich in cholesterol and serves as a good supplement and nourishment for the human brain and bone marrow. Fish roe is also rich in vitamin A, B-group vitamins, and vitamin D. Vitamin A can prevent eye diseases, vitamin B can prevent and treat foot odor and poor development, and vitamin D can prevent rickets. In addition, fish roe contains abundant proteins, minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, iron, and nutrients such as brain phospholipids. These nutrients are extremely important for human body, especially for children's growth and development, and are often lacking in our daily diet.
However, with the deterioration of the overall environment in recent years and the increase in water source pollution, many harmful substances have invaded fish bodies. In the field of agriculture and aquaculture, farmers use excessive amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to increase the yield per unit area, resulting in a large amount of pesticide residues in the soil. The irrigation water, rainwater, river water, and groundwater in the fields carry the residual pesticides in the soil into the rivers. After being consumed by plankton in the water, these harmful chemicals gradually accumulate in fish bodies, especially in carnivorous or omnivorous fish that are at the top of the food chain in water. Therefore, these harmful chemicals accumulate the most in their bodies.
Some farmers, purely from an economic perspective, raise fish in any water source, regardless of whether it is a water pit, pond, swamp, or lake, without testing the water quality or taking measures to purify the water, leading to the inability to guarantee water safety. Moreover, fish heads and fish roe are rich in blood vessels and are areas where high cholesterol and other fatty substances accumulate. Due to the slow water solubility and fast lipid solubility of some pesticides, many toxic substances remain in fish heads and fish roe. In addition, some unscrupulous farmers and vendors add chemicals to the feed, further increasing the accumulation of harmful substances in fish bodies, posing a great threat to human health.
Therefore, I advise friends who enjoy eating fish heads and fish roe to change this habit. Especially during the consumption process, if you find abnormal odors such as kerosene, gunpowder, almond, ammonia, or pesticide in the fish heads, be sure to discard them and not eat them because these fish heads have been severely contaminated and contain a large number of toxins, which can cause serious harm to the human body. In addition, when cooking fish heads, make sure to cook them thoroughly to ensure health.
Editor's Reminder
Burnt fish cannot be eaten. When fish is burnt, it produces a large amount of benzo[a]pyrene, which is one of the most carcinogenic substances in the world. It is the first environmental chemical carcinogen discovered and has a strong carcinogenic effect. Due to its serious harm to the human body, it has attracted high attention from health and environmental organizations worldwide and has been listed as one of the routine testing items for environmental pollution carcinogens. Its toxicity exceeds that of aflatoxin, and people who frequently consume burnt food are more likely to develop cancer than the general population. In addition, fish meat contains abundant proteins. If fish meat is burnt, high molecular proteins will be split into low molecular amino acids, forming mutagenic chemical substances. Therefore, burnt fish is harmful and should be avoided.
