Chicken essence has a delicious taste and is an essential seasoning in the kitchen. In daily life, some people believe that chicken essence is unhealthy, while others believe that chicken essence is mainly made from chicken meat, which not only tastes delicious but also nutritious. So, is chicken essence the essence of chicken? Does frequent consumption of chicken essence affect health? Chicken essence is not the essence of chicken. If you want to know whether chicken essence is the essence of chicken, you should first look at the ingredients of chicken essence. According to the Commercial Industry Standard of the People's Republic of China for Chicken Essence Seasoning (SB/T10371-2003), chicken essence seasoning is a composite seasoning made from monosodium glutamate, edible salt, powder or concentrated extracts of chicken meat or chicken bones, disodium nucleotides for flavor enhancement, and other auxiliary materials, with or without the addition of spices and/or flavorings. It is mixed, dried, and processed to have the freshness and aroma of chicken. From the ingredient list of commercially available chicken essence, the main components of chicken essence are actually monosodium glutamate and edible salt. The content of monosodium glutamate in chicken essence is generally above 35%, and the content of edible salt should not exceed 40%. Therefore, it can be said that chicken essence is formulated with monosodium glutamate. There are two main ingredients in chicken essence that come from chickens: whole egg mixture, chicken meat, or chicken powder, but they only rank fifth to seventh. The lower the ranking of ingredients in the food ingredient list, the lower the content. Therefore, there are very few ingredients from chickens in chicken essence, and the content is very low. So it can only be said that chicken essence contains a small amount of chicken ingredients, which is not the essence of chicken, and its nutritional value is far less than chicken. Is chicken essence a natural food? Is chicken essence considered a natural food? According to the industry standards for chicken essence, it can be found that the main component of chicken essence is actually monosodium glutamate. Among them, monosodium glutamate is obtained by fermenting corn starch, sugar beets, sugarcane, etc. with bacteria that are good at secreting glutamate. The main component is sodium glutamate, so monosodium glutamate is considered a natural food. But chicken essence is synthesized by adding edible salt and various food additives on the basis of monosodium glutamate, so chicken essence is an industrially synthesized seasoning. Can frequent consumption of chicken essence cause cancer? The main component of chicken essence or monosodium glutamate is sodium glutamate, which can easily transform into a carcinogenic substance - sodium pyroglutamate - when the temperature exceeds 120 ℃. Can eating chicken essence or monosodium glutamate cause cancer? In fact, when we cook at home in our daily lives, the cooking temperature does not exceed 120 ℃, but the oil temperature during frying is relatively high, usually between 100 ℃ and 240 ℃. So as long as we don't use monosodium glutamate or chicken essence for seasoning during frying, chicken essence and monosodium glutamate can be safely consumed. To control the cooking temperature, it is recommended to choose cooking methods that use water as a medium, such as blanching, steaming, boiling, and stewing. In addition, the time for adding chicken essence or monosodium glutamate can be appropriately delayed. It is recommended to quickly turn off the heat or add chicken essence or monosodium glutamate after turning off the heat to reduce its carcinogenic risk. At the same time, if chicken essence or monosodium glutamate is to be added when cooking, it is recommended to reduce the amount of edible salt appropriately. In addition, children, the elderly, and those with hypertension, kidney disease, and edema should pay attention to eating less chicken essence or monosodium glutamate. Of course, if you want to enhance freshness and flavor, it is not necessary to use chicken essence or monosodium glutamate. In addition to cooking meat soup and bone soup, natural ingredients such as mushrooms, onions, garlic, green peppers, celery, and lettuce can be cleverly used to add color and flavor to dishes. Wen/Dr. Ma Health Team Scientific Review/Ma Guansheng (Professor at Peking University School of Public Health) (Xinhua News Agency)