CONDIMENTS: Sweet but hurtful sauce

"Pass me the salt," Mr Daniel told his daughter, his face frowned. Gloria pushed the tin of salt to him. "This soup is just too bland for my liking," he added, obviously upset. "Bland? After six cubes of Knorr and Four tablespoon salt!" his wife retorted, her brows raised. "It's actually not bland, it only lacks spice," Mary interfered, sprinkling table pepper in her soup. "Well, I can't say since I'm taking bread," Gloria added, her bread almost draining mayonnaise." "Gloria, and you, Samuel, don't finish the mayonnaise and ketchup today," Mrs. Daniels snapped.

Issues like this are not far-fetched in our society. Everyone wants tasty and adequately spiced food. More salt, curry, pepper, seasoning, and many more, anything that would make meal taste better. The tongue enjoys a great deal, I must say.
Condiment is something used to enhance food flavor. It's capable of turning bland food good, and good food, great. We all eat it, though in different proportion and combination, but we do love it.

Condiment is great, is sweet, mention any nice adjective, and it's right there. However, this often high-valued substance can cause tremendous harm to health. The list is long, but the common ones used include Salt, Pepper, Vinegar, Mayonnaise, Ketchup, Curry, Nutmeg, Monosodium glutamate (seasoning e.g Knorr, Maggi, Vedan) e.t.c

SALT:- As good as this is, eating it in excess can lead to water retention, hypertension, kidney stones, and many cardiovascular diseases. 3grammes/day is just good enough.

PEPPER: It's good to eat spicy food, for its health benefits, but in small doses, too spicy food can damage stomach tissue. Hot peppers contain compounds such as piperin, acrid resins and volatile oil that irritate our digestive and urinary tracts.

VINEGAR: Very useful in the kitchen, as preservative and additives. It contains acetic acid, which increases stomach acidity, the risk of stomach & intestine inflammation, and renal tubular necrosis, which damages the kidney tubules. Vinegar destroys vitamin C, could damage the stomach lining and blood capillaries.

MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE (MSG): Found in majority of seasonings, is an excitotoxin, i.e overexcites the body cells until they are damaged. It is capable of triggering headaches, chest pain, facial pressure, disorientation, burning sensation, nause, drowsiness and breathing difficulties. It is advisable to reduce its intake. One cube, or two cubes at most, of seasoning for a medium-sized kitchen pot soup is just enough.

NUTMEG: The pleasant flavor it adds to food and its health benefit are excellent, but too much of it hurts your psychological health. It could result to dizziness, disorientation, dry mucous membrane, nausea and vomiting.

MAYONNAISE: Contains high fat, and soybean oil, which is one of the most harmful oils you can eat, found extensively in processed foods. Be it partially hydrogenated, organic or made from newer soybean varieties modified to not require hydrogenation, these oils are highly processed and pave the way for a wide range of problems from obesity to diabetes; reproductive disorders to heart disease.
Condiments are not to be entirely ruled out however, as they have health benefits, but should not be overlooked for its hamful effects. Excess of everything is bad, they say. Sticking to recommended doses of these substance thus become important. Remember, what you eat is what you are. Health is Wealth. Watch it!