new research debunks trad views on nutrition

[Sally PB]

tax:

Sunny thinks that people do a lot of stupid things.

 

[Molpet]

FYI:

In the Netherlands, Belgium and probably in many more countries, we have a problem with PFAS in our environment.

A research in backyard chicken eggs around a factory that produces PFAS showed an alarming amount of PFAS in the eggs (published last September). The message: don't eat eggs from BYC near the factory. They researched a wider area and found PFAS in other backyard too who where further away from the factory they could not explain.

January 16, 2024
The NOS (our national news) has had eggs from hobby chickens examined at 12 locations in Friesland, Utrecht and Limburg. PFAS was found at six locations, and at three (Bloelenslaan, Maartensdijk and Smakt) the concentrations were higher than the EU limit value. The PFAS turned out not to come from the Chemours company in Dordrecht. It is not known where the PFAS comes from. The substance may have spread through the air, but may also be in the food.
As is known, PFAS is also found in pesticides. In 2022, pesticides containing PFAS were found several times in the Rhine and the Meuse. These involved concentrations above the drinking water standard. Scientists recommend limiting the consumption of eggs from hobby chickens. That advice certainly applies to children.

It's in artic ice also. Winds spread it
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/11/pfas-norwegian-arctic-ice-wildlife-risk-stressor

 

[Perris]

Great news! Spector's book Food for Life (which was the catalyst for this thread) has been edited and serialised into 10 episodes for BBC Radio 4, so anyone who wants can listen. The podcast is here
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m001vs7k

Food for Life by Tim Spector​

Epidemiologist Professor Tim Spector offers a new approach to how to eat - for our health and the health of the planet. Written by Tim Spector. Read by John Lightbody.

 

[Perris]

I came across this open access article this morning which followers of this thread might find interesting:
Edelman M and Colt M (2016) Nutrient Value of Leaf vs. Seed. Front. Chem. 4:32
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2016.00032

 

[Sally PB]

Very interesting, @Perris. Thank you for the link.

 

[Shadrach]

I came across this open access article this morning which followers of this thread might find interesting:
Edelman M and Colt M (2016) Nutrient Value of Leaf vs. Seed. Front. Chem. 4:32
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2016.00032

It would be interesting to have a similar table for common grasses and weeds.

 

[RoyalChick]

It would be interesting to have a similar table for common grasses and weeds.

I was thinking the exact same thing.
Mine are going through a grass phase right now. I assume the early shoots are particularly yummy. The way they rush for it in preference even to a hung cabbage (normally a fan favorite) makes me think there is some nutrient in new grass that they are craving.

 

[Perris]

It would be interesting to have a similar table for common grasses and weeds.

I've been working on gathering the data for such a thing for quite a while now. There is really very little pertinent work done as yet, that I can find at any rate.

However, I did recently discover that fresh young beech leaves - which my chickens are very fond of, and will be appearing all over the hedge shortly - are “sweet as a mild cabbage though much softer in texture” (Mabey Food for free 2022: 29 [originally published in the 1970s]). He suggests adding them to salads; no nutritional data though. Google throws up lots about beech nuts, nothing much about leaves.

I've also discovered that even the best websites are not necessarily reliable here. I have seen my chickens eating creeping buttercup leaves, which the RHS says is “poisonous to livestock” – but since my chickens are free to forage on whatever they like, and are not eating it through lack of choice, I trust their instincts; maybe protoanemonin is not toxic to chickens, or maybe there is very little sap in the bits they choose to consume.

We all forget that cultivated foods, as well as uncultivated foods, carry risks and can have unexpected consequences; for example, a whole nutmeg can bring on days of hallucinations according to Mabey (who appears to be writing from experience! 2022: 10). Most of what the chickens graze they just nibble, and the norm is a little bit of this and a little bit of that as they perambulate round the place.

 

[saysfaa]

I've been working on gathering the data for such a thing for quite a while now. There is really very little pertinent work done as yet, that I can find at any rate.

However, I did recently discover that fresh young beech leaves ... no nutritional data though. Google throws up lots about beech nuts, nothing much about leaves.
...

This is for European beech leaves but doesn't specify whether it is for young leaves.

 

[saysfaa]

Google has changed. Once, it could be directed to what the person searching wanted. Sometimes it took creative search terms and/or looking through many pages of results. Now, it gives the same few results on page after page and is difficult to redirect.

Google scholar is better in both ways. At least, for topics that may have been formally researched.

This source (citation in the picture) indicated some of the information that is published.

"In the past, beech... leaves were often used as animal feed...

A wide variety of both primary metabolites and specialized natural products has been described from Fagus sylvatica leaves. Polysaccharides, polyalcohols, amino acids, organic acids, fatty acids, and vitamins were reported. Phenylpropanoids (e.g. cis-coniferin and cis-syringin) and other phenolic compounds, terpenoids, sterols, saponins (e.g. ginsenoside derivatives), and other related substances as well as hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives, flavonols, flavan-3-ols, and proanthocyanidins have also been described (Nguyen-Tu et al., 2007; Aranda et al., 2017; Formato et al., 2021). ...
The content of natural products in plants is not stable, but changing over the growth season influenced by different factors (Prinsloo and Nogemane, 2018). “Content” is defined here as the amount of substance per g dry plant material, i.e. the concentration of the substance in dry matter as usually defined in pharmacognosy. Though still insufficiently investigated, a large number of studies on seasonal fluctuations in the content of natural products of European tree species have been carried out. ..."