(Adnkronos) - "Ci sono quelle eventualmente generata da ingestione di alimenti contaminati da microrganismi vivi e vitali capaci di liberare tossine durante il loro transito intestinale, e ci sono quelle derivanti dall’assunzione di alimenti che, pur non contenendo batteri al momento della loro ingestione, sono in grado di generare nel consumatore disturbi anche molto gravi in ragione di tossine microbiche in essi contenute". Le malattie da alimenti, come le infezioni e le intossicazioni, sono al centro della puntata di “τροφήν, la prima Medicina”, la rubrica online dedicata all’impatto dell’alimentazione sulla salute umana, curata dall’immunologo Mauro Minelli docente di dietetica e nutrizione presso l’Università LUM. "Di questi eventi, rispettivamente distinguibili in infezioni alimentari e intossicazioni, sarà sempre il caso di ricordarsene nel momento in cui le occasioni dell’estate dovessero farci trovare nel bel mezzo di un buffet imbandito per l’aperitivo o per un dopo-cena, o per il classico rinfresco in una cerimonia, oppure per una tavolata allestita in un locale 'all you can eat' - sottolinea Minelli - E’ proprio allora che, mettendo da parte l’idea di ‘quanto’ riempire il piatto, occorrerebbe concentrarsi sul pensiero dominante di ‘come’ riempirlo. Si, perché in difetto anche solo di una delle poche ma indispensabili regole basiche dell’igiene, quei piatti invitanti preparati in serie possono diventare fonte subdola, per quanto stuzzicante, di ‘malattie alimentari’, con prevalenti disturbi gastrointestinali segnati da vomito, diarrea, dolori addominali e talvolta anche febbre. Nello specifico - osserva l'immunoloogo - crescite batteriche incontrollate - e dunque rischiose per il consumatore - possono verificarsi facilmente tanto con prodotti caseari a base di latte non pastorizzato, quanto con le carni servite fredde dopo essere state cucinate in sughi umidi o anche con carni crude o poco cotte. A proposito di cibi crudi, oltre al ben noto rischio di parassitosi da anisakis simplex correlato all’assunzione di pesce non adeguatamente abbattuto, va anche ricordato che il pesce crudo, quando non correttamente pulito, eviscerato e conservato, può trasformarsi in veicolo di infezioni batteriche". "Di fronte ad un buffet, un’attenzione particolare andrà pure riservata a quelle pietanze allestite con uova e derivati o con maionese che, se esposte per più di qualche ora ad una temperatura superiore ai 5°C, saranno destinate ben presto a diventare, per qualche incauto consumatore, causa di possibile ‘imbarazzo viscerale’. Purtroppo non è facile discriminare la qualità del cibo semplicemente guardandolo, ma il colore, l’odore e il primo sapore immediatamente evocato dall’assunzione di un alimento, possono rappresentare importanti elementi guida per una scelta accorta. Di questi tempi la consapevolezza globale sulla sicurezza alimentare è certamente aumentata, ma è necessario continuare ad impegnarsi per far sì che ogni persona abbia accesso a cibo sicuro e nutriente", conclude.
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NewsTranscript
00:00On the one hand, there are those generated by foods that at the time of ingestion are
00:15contaminated by living and vital bacteria capable of releasing toxins during their
00:21intestinal transit, while on the other hand, there are those that are generated by foods
00:28that, even though they are not contaminated by bacteria at the time of ingestion, are
00:33able to cause, in the consumer, also particularly serious symptoms due to
00:39bacteria toxins that are contained in them. We will talk in the first case, when
00:45live bacteria are present in foods, of food infections, while instead in the second case,
00:52when toxins are present in foods, we will talk about intoxications, that is,
00:58food infections. In both cases, it will always be necessary to remember
01:04when the various summer occasions should take us, for example, in the middle of a buffet,
01:12perhaps arranged for a ceremony or an aperitif or an after-dinner,
01:18or in front of a table full of food in an all-you-can-eat restaurant.
01:25And it is precisely then that, putting aside the idea of how to fill the plate, it will be good to
01:31focus on the dominant thought of how to fill it. Yes, because even in defection of
01:38one of the basic rules of hygiene, those dishes arranged in series, perhaps even
01:45tickling, captivating, can become a source of real food diseases.
01:53But how do these food diseases manifest themselves? What are the symptoms that, on the clinical level,
01:59characterize these disorders, sometimes even particularly severe? Well, generally, the first
02:06symptom is nausea, this mounting sense of nausea, sometimes also with real digestive
02:13problems, such as eruption, sense of fullness, stomach burn, and then vomiting,
02:19and then stomach pain, that is, cramping abdominal pain, followed by discharge of
02:25aqueous diarrhea, often smelly, with a mounting sensation of general illness and sometimes
02:33even fever. And what are the foods that most of all tend to become the vehicle
02:41of this type of food disease? Well, in the first place I would certainly put home-made products,
02:48especially those based on unpasteurized milk, but then there are also meats,
02:56meats perhaps served cold and prepared in wet sauces, or even uncooked meats,
03:04and speaking of raw or uncooked foods, well, at this point I can't help but remember
03:11the risk of Anisakis simplex, which is a parasite generally carried by raw fish
03:20eaten or in any case not well cooked, fish obviously that has not been
03:26preemptively slaughtered in an adequate way. However, I remember that fish, if not
03:33accurately cleaned and filtered and well preserved, can become, in turn, regardless of
03:41Anisakis, a vehicle of food diseases. In front of a buffet, a particular attention will also be
03:49reserved to the pietanzas arranged with eggs or their derivatives, or with mayonnaise,
03:55keeping in mind that these pietanzas kept outside for more than an hour at a temperature
04:00higher than 5 degrees can become, for the reckless adventurer, a source of some
04:07visceral embarrassment. But beyond this, much more banally, I would also like to mention among
04:14the foods capable of generating these problems that the fruit or vegetables not properly cleaned,
04:21or even more simply, I would like to remember the risk that can derive from the preparation of
04:26these foods by operators who have not accurately washed their hands, or the
04:33preparation of these pietanzas on cutlery or maybe with kitchen utensils that have not
04:39followed the ordinary rules of hygiene, or even more simply I could remember
04:46the water that, in turn, can be a source of contamination. What measures must be taken in the
04:55case of this type of food disease, especially but not exclusively in the summer? Well, in the meantime,
05:02the first remedy is to ensure that the subject who has had an episode of this
05:08kind drinks, drinks a lot, takes liquids in an adequate amount. Then again, in the case of
05:15continuous vomiting, this person may keep a few ice cubes in their mouth for a
05:21relatively long time, they may possibly, especially in the case of food infections,
05:28resort to the intake of some antibiotics. In this regard, I remember above all the rifaximin
05:35if ever associated with some lactic ferment, with some appropriate probiotic, and then there are those
05:43who also resort to the use of antidiarrheal drugs, for which it will always be the case to
05:51hear their doctor taking into account that the diarrhea, at least in the initial phases, would be the case
05:58not to cancel it, since through the diarrhea we are able to eliminate as quickly as
06:03possible the causal agent of this eventual problem. Of course, it is not easy, simply
06:10by looking at a food or looking at a mercy, to discriminate in terms of the quality of the
06:17product. However, at this point, the color, the smell or even the first taste of the food
06:25just ingested could be elements capable of facilitating the choices or
06:32the exclusion of certain foods. In these times, awareness of food safety has certainly increased,
06:39but it is always necessary to pay close attention to ensure that each of us has access to safe and controlled food.