3 ms·

What you're missing here is that whole grains (or whole foods in general) are biologically active with phytochemicals such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, lingan

What you're missing here is that whole grains (or whole foods in general) are biologically active with phytochemicals such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, lingans, etc, which their processed counterparts generally have less of (or none at all). These compounds get into our body and then work in many ways (many of which that we don't fully understand) to improve important markers of human health. Plant food is biologically active in ways that animal products are not, and I think people who eat exclusively meat as a source of protein are missing out on a lot of opportunity from the chemical activity of plants that has been shown to be health promoting. Whole foods do have more antinutrients but in studies I've seen most authors conclude that the benefits greatly outweigh the risks. I agree that I am concerned about the metals in whole foods though; and careful sourcing is important (and even then sometimes insufficient).

adrian_b 3y ago
There are many other vegetables, from which other parts than the seeds are eaten, and which provide large amounts of biologically active phytochemicals. Seeds, like those of cereals or of legumes, are a necessary part of food because they are the only part of the plants with high content of proteins. Because of their disadvantage of also concentrating pollutants, it is preferable to use them mainly as a source of proteins and starch, which does not require the use of whole grains, and to get any desirable phytochemicals from other parts of plants. In the case of oily seeds, the extracted oils (if they are obtained by cold pressing or supercritical carbon dioxide extraction) contain most of the phytochemicals but much less of the heavy metals. For instance, cold-pressed sunflower oil is a better source of phytochemicals than raw sunflower seeds, because the latter, like cocoa, have frequently high contents of lead and cadmium. So there are ways of processing that improve the quality of the food ingredients. The kinds of processing that are bad are typically those which add undesirable substances to food, not those which remove undesirable substances from food.
goda90 3y ago
I'd love to see more research on how soaking and sprouting impact contaminants and antinutrients. It's known that they reduce some antinutrients already, but an accurate map of every chemical in seeds(including the proteins we want) at each stage of sprouting would be great.

adrian_b 3y ago

There are many other vegetables, from which other parts than the seeds are eaten, and which provide large amounts of biologically active phytochemicals. Seeds, like those of cereals or of legumes, are a necessary part of food because they are the only part of the plants with high content of proteins. Because of their disadvantage of also concentrating pollutants, it is preferable to use them mainly as a source of proteins and starch, which does not require the use of whole grains, and to get any desirable phytochemicals from other parts of plants. In the case of oily seeds, the extracted oils (if they are obtained by cold pressing or supercritical carbon dioxide extraction) contain most of the phytochemicals but much less of the heavy metals. For instance, cold-pressed sunflower oil is a better source of phytochemicals than raw sunflower seeds, because the latter, like cocoa, have frequently high contents of lead and cadmium. So there are ways of processing that improve the quality of the food ingredients. The kinds of processing that are bad are typically those which add undesirable substances to food, not those which remove undesirable substances from food.

goda90 3y ago

I'd love to see more research on how soaking and sprouting impact contaminants and antinutrients. It's known that they reduce some antinutrients already, but an accurate map of every chemical in seeds(including the proteins we want) at each stage of sprouting would be great.