Will gold foil used in high-end restaurants have any impact on the body if eaten?

We all know that gold comes from heavy metals. Although it is one of the most stable metals, swallowing gold directly can also cause death, but it is not due to poisoning. In fact, it is due to its disharmony. When the human body's digestive juices react, gold that is too stable cannot be metabolized, leading to obstruction of the digestive tract or damage to internal organs, leading to death.

Because today’s food is very diverse, we can usually see a lot of novel food. For example, there are many restaurants now where a lot of food contains “gold”, but it is not in real lump form. Gold is actually edible gold foil made of gold that can be eaten and digested.

In fact, in 1983, the WHO Codex Committee on Food Additives had some regulations that gold could be used as a food additive, and the Chinese Ministry of Health also approved it, as long as All gold foil that meets the standards can be eaten.

But why is gold foil edible? In this regard, the main reason is that the amount of gold foil consumed is very small. The human body will not choke when ingested, and it will not cause poisoning. Such a small amount of gold foil can be easily metabolized after being ingested. Will not block the digestive tract.

However, although eating gold foil is very safe and will not threaten human life even if eaten into the human body, it is better not to eat too much, because eating gold is also burdensome because it contains gold foil. The food is a bit expensive and will make people poor.

In fact, most of the reasons why food contains gold foil are to make people feel "rich-like" pleasure. In addition, food covered with gold foil will also provide visual enjoyment, but The nutritional value is very low, and there is no taste or aroma when eaten.

The first place in the history of eating gold is China. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, rich people had records of eating gold foil and gold powder. But now "gold" is added to food only as a coloring agent in food additives to satisfy the sensory needs of consumers.

The above is an analysis of some matters about edible gold foil. I hope it will be helpful to everyone, and I also hope it can increase everyone’s understanding of this additive!

It will not have any impact, because gold is the most stable element in the world, and almost no other chemicals can react with it. In other words, gold will not provoke other chemicals. Then after eating it, it will run out from the end of the digestive tract intact and nothing will be left in the human body.

Moreover, the gold foil used in restaurants is actually very thin. The thinnest gold foil probably only has a few layers of gold atoms, so the amount you can eat is very limited.

Since eating gold has no effect on the human body, what about the ancient people saying that they committed suicide by swallowing gold? Let’s look at the following news first. The result of a woman swallowing a gold necklace was that it was stored in her stomach. She was not poisoned by this gold necklace. It could only block the digestive tract and cause indigestion. If the gold was in a better shape, it would be excreted directly. There is a saying that if gold is too heavy, it will break your intestines. This is not true.

The "gold" used in ancient times to swallow gold is not necessarily gold. It may refer to other metals, such as mercury. If you eat this thing, you will have problems. In addition, many sharp metal products can also become "gold", which is also harmful to the human body.

The gold foil here generally refers to the thin edible gold foil. What will happen if you eat it? Nothing will happen, no matter how much you eat, you will eventually lose weight. Except for your wallet becoming thinner and your mood getting better, nothing will happen.

The production of gold foil takes advantage of the excellent ductility of gold. 1 gram of 999 pure gold can be made into a gold foil of about 0.5 square meters. The thickness of the gold foil is very thin, only about 0.12 microns, which is quite a few meters. The diameter of a hundred gold atoms will cause it to disperse with basically slight air disturbance.

So one gram of 999 pure gold can make about 50 pieces of gold foil (9.33*9.33cm). In fact, the cost of one piece of edible gold foil is not much, but the rich feeling it brings to the food is really intuitive and feels worth it. .

Will eating gold foil affect the body? No, because the chemical properties of gold are extremely stable. After entering the body, it will hardly react with any substances, so it will not have any impact. Generally speaking, no matter how much you eat, it will eventually be excreted unchanged. So there won't be any so-called efficacy. The Codex Committee on Food Additives of the World Health Organization officially included gold in the category of food additives in 1983, and the Substances Used as New Food Resources issued by the Ministry of Health of China also included gold foil.

So, the saying of "committing suicide by swallowing gold" was widely circulated in ancient my country. In fact, the chemical properties of gold itself are stable. Basically, what happens when you swallow it is what you pull out. As for why the ancients thought gold was poisonous, it may be because the gold nuggets they swallowed were a bit large or sharp, and they died from a burst or scratched digestive tract. It may also be that the gold refined at that time was impure and contained other toxic substances. .

First of all, it is non-toxic in its simple state, so it is used as some food decorations in high-end hotels. Gold in this state will not have any bad effects on people if consumed in excess. But don’t eat too much of anything. Even drinking too much water in a short period of time will lead to poisoning. Excessive intake of protein in a short period of time can be toxic, and excessive intake of vitamins in a short period of time can also be harmful to the body, especially fat-soluble vitamins. Whether it is beneficial or harmful depends on the dose taken. If the dose taken is within the beneficial range, it will be beneficial to the body, and if it is within the harmful range, it will cause discomfort and so on.