Among the trace elements necessary for our body, sulfur is almost in the first place. It is part of amino acids and hormones and is most often localized in hair, skin, joints and nails. The necessary daily norm of sulfur for a person is 500-1200 mg. Deficiency of this microelement in the body can be easily eliminated with the help of products with its content. What products contain sulfur, and we want to talk about its benefits for humans today.
Useful properties of sulfur
The key to human health is the balance of trace elements in his body. Their lack or, conversely, an overabundance disrupts the functioning of various body systems, worsens the appearance and well-being. Sulfur is part of all proteins. The formation of elastins and halogens occurs directly with its participation, it is those proteins that are part of sulfur that are responsible for healthy teeth, elastic skin, shiny hair. With a lack of this trace element in the body, the tissues cease to be dense, and the muscles cannot be elastic and mobile.
Effects on the human body
Foods rich in sulfur help the body to fully work and easily cope with many functions. This important trace element is involved in such processes:
- increase immunity;
- metabolism;
- antiallergic effect;
- oxygen balance;
- improvement of the nervous system;
- muscle strengthening;
- effect on blood coagulation;
- anti-inflammatory effect;
- reduction of muscle, joint pain and cramps.
And this is not a complete list of what effect sulfur has on the human body.
Sulfur deficiency
With a deficiency of this element, its deficiency may occur, which will have an adverse effect on the whole organism. Consider the signs of a lack:
- impaired skin function;
- hair loss and dullness;
- fragility of nails;
- tachycardia;
- increase in blood pressure;
- hyperglycemia;
- liver disease
- joint pain
- allergic reactions;
- constipation.
In order to avoid the lack of this element in your diet, you should know what foods contain sulfur.
Excess Sulfur: Symptoms
It should be noted that not only the lack of sulfur affects the body, but also its overabundance. However, the latter cannot be caused by the consumption of foods with a large amount of sulfur. This occurs in direct contact with gaseous sulfur compounds - carbon disulfide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide. Signs:
- feeling of "sand in the eyes";
- lacrimation, conjunctivitis, photophobia;
- boils, salting of the skin, rash, severe itching;
- loss of appetite, general weakness, digestive upset;
- anemia of different genesis;
- headaches, dizziness.
High Sulfur Products
A microelement enters the body along with food, which contains a lot of protein, in the composition of sulfatides, amino acids and other organic compounds. A large amount of sulfur in leafy vegetables, greens that have a dark green color, is due to the fact that they contain a large number of B vitamins. Want to know what foods contain sulfur? The answer is in the table below.
Sulfur content in some products (in mg per 1 kg of weight):
More than 1000 | Chicken eggs (yolk). Fish (pink salmon, sardines, pike, flounder, sea bass). Seafood (crabs, sea crayfish, lobsters, oysters). |
| 100-1000 | Meat (beef, pork, lamb, turkey). Liver (any). Quail eggs. Egg powder. Soya, barley. Fruits (dried apricots and peaches). Nuts (peanuts). Cocoa, tea, coffee. |
50-100 | Dairy products (condensed milk, kefir). Nuts (almond, walnut, cashew). Cereals (rye, buckwheat, wheat, pearl barley, oat). Bread, pasta. Garlic, onions. |
20-50 | Hard cheese, sour cream, milk, ice cream. Fig. Pineapples, bananas. Vegetables (tomato, pumpkin, carrots, beets). |
Significantly replenish sulfur reserves in the body will help products containing essential oils. These include onions, radish, horseradish, garlic, mustard and rutabaga. One of the most useful foods is considered cabbage. It contains volatile, as in essential oil vegetables, methionine (sulfur-containing amino acid), as well as mineral salts of sulfur. Trace rich in cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, Savoy cabbage, broccoli and kohlrabi.
How to keep sulfur in foods when cooking
Now that we know which products contain sulfur, we need to figure out how to prepare food from them so that in the process of cooking this microelement is preserved in the greatest quantity. There are several secrets that we want to share with you.
In order to maintain the maximum amount of sulfur in the cabbage (any), it should be cut into pieces, chopped or sorted into inflorescences. After that, leave for 10 minutes, then stew a little or steam.
Onions and garlic should be chopped, let lie for ten minutes before using them, during which time the sulfur in them will become more resistant to heat.
All sulfur-containing products are best prepared without prolonged stewing or boiling. Please note: heat treatment at high temperatures minimizes the trace element content.
Recipes
In this part of the article we want to tell how to cook vegetables in order to preserve all the beneficial properties of sulfur. It's no secret that the most beneficial substances are found in raw fruits and vegetables. Usually sulfur-containing vegetables come to our table as ingredients in a salad or after heat treatment. Let's figure out how to cook them correctly.
Steamed broccoli
Cooking with this recipe broccoli is not difficult. It is best to use a double boiler. In it, cabbage will retain the maximum amount of sulfur. Broccoli, if only slightly steamed, will contain three times more sulfur than after heat treatment. The preparation of broccoli according to the recipe should end at the moment when the head of the cabbage still has a delicate bright green hue, in a double boiler it takes no more than 3-4 minutes.
Cauliflower
In order to activate the enzyme myrazinin, and make sulfur contained in cauliflower more bioavailable, it should be cut into small inflorescences and allowed to lie down a little. Better to steam or in the oven, if you combine cauliflower with cayenne pepper, salt, a little curry and olive oil, and then bake everything. It turns out an unusually tasty dish with a high sulfur content.
How to cook pike
This freshwater fish belongs to the pike family. Her meat contains a large amount of sulfur. For cooking, it is recommended to choose fish that are not too large, as harmful substances can accumulate in the tissues of larger individuals. How to cook pike? We offer you to familiarize yourself with traditional ways:
- Bake in the oven, for example with mushroom sauce.
- Pickle pike in red wine.
- Bake on a wire rack with vegetables.
- Cook the ear.
- Cook zrazy or patties with pork.
- Bake with sour cream, parmesan.
- Fry in beer batter.
- Make hehe in Korean.
- Stew with tomatoes and onions.
- Grill or steam.
- Make aspic.
- Stuff and bake.
- Boil, season with caper sauce.
- Bake on a cabbage and lemon pillow.
Do not forget that with high heat treatment, the amount of sulfur in the finished product is significantly reduced. Therefore, when choosing a cooking method, in case you want to maintain the maximum content of trace elements, adhere to the most gentle thermal conditions.
How sulfur interacts with other substances
If we talk about how other substances act on sulfur, it must be said that molybdenum, arsenic, selenium, barium and lead significantly worsen, and fluorine and iron, on the contrary, improve its absorption. By suppressing inflammatory mediators and reducing lipid peroxidation, sulfur helps to inhibit all three stages of inflammation in the body.