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It becomes a matter of disgust when you need to eat the same food with the same taste again and again. Therefore, to save you from that misery, pickles are often used with the food. They not only help enhance your taste buds but also help you escape the daily taste of the food.

Pickling is nothing but to expand the life of food by preserving it with some kind of anaerobic process, the most common of which is immersing it in vinegar. This keeps it at a atmosphere which kills bacteria that can possibly attack the food and thus help increase its lifespan. Pickles have been used throughout the world since a very long time. Homemade and organic pickles are the ones that are commonly preferred as they do not have any kind of harmful chemicals or side effects as such.

Pickles are not just food enhancers. They have their own share of good and bad qualities. Excess of everything can cause harm to your body. The same stands for this. There are certain things that you need to keep in mind while purchasing them.

• Pickles kept in stores usually have artificial colour added to them
• This is reflected by a yellow tint. Therefore, you must avoid buying those.
• Instead, go for the natural and organic ones.

• They not only have low calorie count, but also help in your diet.

Positives:

Pickles not only help in making your food tastier, it has health benefits as well.

• If you are taking calcium and mineral supplements, having pickles along with it does wonders. The acidity of the pickles helps to absorb the calcium better.

• Traditionally manufactured organic pickles are an excellent source of probiotic microbes.
• These microbes are bacteria and yeast that provide health benefits when consumed.
• Pickles are low in saturated fat thus helping in losing weight.
• It is very low in cholesterol.
• Pickles are a great source of vitamin A, iron, potassium and manganese.
• It is also a very good source of Dietary fiber, Vitamin K and calcium.

Negatives:

More of every good thing has a dark side to it. Therefore, it is the same with pickles. The numbers of health benefits are huge but there are a number of disadvantages as well.

• Pickles are very high in sodium.
• A large portion of calories in pickles comes from sugars, which taken in more quantities can drastically affect the diet you are following.
• Most of the pickles available in the market may be made of artificial flavouring which needs to be taken special care of by purchasing organic ones.

• An online research concluded that pickles are increasing the risks of esophageal cancer.

Therefore, pickles are a great source of taste enhancer but when over-consumed can have drastic health hazards. Sensible consumption will lead to a proper diet as well as proper health.Click here for more.