Many of us rely on leftovers for a quick and convenient dinner.
But according to diet experts, there are some foods you should only heat once and never reheat.
There are two reasons why this is the case.
First, the chemical compounds in ingredients can change when reheated, causing the release of toxic substances linked to problems such as kidney damage.
Second, allowing some foods to cool before heating them can encourage the growth of hard-to-kill bacteria, such as E coli and Iisteria.
In a recent video shared with her 23,000 TikTok followers, dietician Harini Bala revealed three surprising foods you should never reheat.
First on the list is spinach.
Ms Bala said this green leafy vegetable contains a substance called oxalic acid which is harmless when spinach is eaten raw.
However, once reheated, oxalic acid “crystallizes,” which becomes “toxic.” In high doses, the substance can increase the risk of kidney stones, clumps of crystals that form in the urinary tract and can be painful.
Mrs. Bala added: “It also contains nitrates, which convert to nitrites when overheated and are toxic.”
Nitrites are substances that are thought to combine with chemicals in the intestine to form compounds that increase the risk of developing intestinal tumors.
Other studies have found that spinach leaves are heavily infested with listeria, an insect that is often responsible for foodborne illnesses.
Experts say that if spinach has not been heated properly, bacteria can still live on it. This can cause fever, flu-like symptoms, headache, stiff neck, confusion, and even seizures.
The next favorite to avoid overheating is tea, Bala said.
Not only will it make the drink more bitter, because reheating it it increases the amount of acidic-tasting tannins: “any kind of dormant bacteria can activate in it,” he said.
Lastly, the riskiest food to reheat is rice, according to Bala.
When cooked rice cools, it may contain Bacillus cereus, a spore-forming bacteria normally found in soil and vegetables.
But the spores are heat resistant, so even when you heat them, it doesn’t eliminate the risk.
Symptoms of Bacillus cereus disease include vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps.
There are some rules that can be followed to limit the risk of contracting the virus, Bala said.
‘It can be reheated if you store it within two hours (after cooking) in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
“But if you cook rice in the morning (leaving it out) and store it in the refrigerator overnight to eat the next day, there is a high chance that Bacillus cereus will form.”
Last year a story resurfaced on the Internet about a 20-year-old man who died from so-called “fried rice syndrome,” which also affects pasta.
The unidentified 20-year-old Belgian man died after eating reheated spaghetti that he had left in his kitchen for five days.
He reportedly began experiencing a variety of symptoms shortly after eating the pasta, including nausea, abdominal pain, headache, diarrhea, and vomiting.
He died at 10 hours.
The autopsy confirmed that he suffered from moderate centrilobular liver necrosis, which caused the organ to stop.
Doctors who detailed the case in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology said the culprit was likely Bacillus cereus.