During the Doan Ngo Festival, depending on the customs of each region and each family, in addition to flowers and sour fruits, there will be some traditional products such as sticky rice wine and banh gio.
Since ancient times, the 5th day of the 5th lunar month has entered the Vietnamese tradition, carrying the meaning of praying for a good harvest, not being damaged by insects, and is an opportunity for the whole family to reunite and reunite.
On this day, Vietnamese descendants will prepare an offering tray to offer to their ancestors’ altar.
Depending on the customs of each region and each family, in addition to flowers and sour fruits, there will be some traditional products such as sticky rice wine and banh gio.
Sticky rice and wine is a traditional dish for the Dragon Boat Festival (Photo: Getty).
Sticky rice and wine is not only an attractive traditional dish but also has amazing health benefits. For that reason, in the North, black sticky rice, especially black sticky rice and wine, is indispensable on this day.
According to folklore, eating sticky rice and wine as soon as you wake up is very effective. This wine is mainly fermented sticky rice with whole grains, also known as “rice”. People often use white and black sticky rice to make sticky rice, let it cool, then sprinkle with yeast and ferment for three days.
However, many people also wonder about the risk of alcohol concentration in the breath when eating this traditional dish.
According to Dr. Bui Le Minh – Head of Biotechnology Department – NTT High-Tech Institute of Technology – Nguyen Tat Thanh University, eating foods with alcoholic fermentation such as: fermented sticky rice wine, black sticky rice can cause Alcohol concentration appears on the breath, even at a very low level.
Besides, we can also accidentally introduce alcohol into the body through some other daily activities such as: using fermented fruit juice; dishes that use alcohol when preparing such as: fish steamed with beer, meat in wine sauce…; Or even use mouthwash that contains alcohol.
However, people should not worry too much about using a moderate amount of these products.
According to Dr. Minh, because the ethanol content in the above foods is very small, it only takes about 20 – 30 minutes for the body to metabolize it all.
For mouthwash containing alcohol, according to Dr. Minh, simply use filtered water to rinse your mouth and there will be no alcohol left in your breath.
This expert analyzed further, when ethanol (alcohol) is absorbed into the body, only about 5 – 10% is excreted through sweat, breath and urine; 90 – 95% of the remaining ethanol is transferred to the liver for processing.
Specifically in the liver, ethanol is metabolized by the ADH enzyme system. The ADH enzyme converts ethanol to acetaldehyde. This is toxic to most organ systems.
Then, the liver will convert acetaldehyde into acetate thanks to the enzymes ALDH and glutathione. Acetate is less toxic and is broken down by cells in the body into energy and CO2.
Because the ethanol content in the above foods is very small, it only takes about 20 – 30 minutes for the body to fully metabolize it.
“Drivers, after consuming foods containing small amounts of alcohol as mentioned above, should rinse their mouth thoroughly and wait about 30 minutes before driving, to make sure there is no alcohol in their breath,” Dr. Minh said. nice.