Erik
10-19-2007, 07:47 PM
I bet that title caused your heart to skip a few beats eh? :lol: You PB freaks!
From a friend of mine's newsletter today:
The other day, I was having a conversation with several
nutrition graduate students when someone made the
comment that peanut butter is a "terrible food".
I've always personally thought that there really is no such
thing as a terrible food, or even a bad food for that matter. To
me, it is always a matter of moderation and variety.
The problem with peanut butter is the presence of two certain
strains of mold - Aspergillus Flavus and Aspergillus
Parasiticus. While we can't see either of these molds with the
naked eye, they are almost always present in peanut butter
(and many varieties of nuts, corn, grains, spices, soybeans,
beer and milk for that matter).
The trouble with these molds is that they secrete a natural
mycotoxin called aflatoxin, a known carcinogen that can cause
liver cancer in laboratory animals.
In 1965, the USDA set standards for acceptable levels of
aflatoxin in peanuts. Every peanut sheller is required by the
USDA to have every lot of peanuts tested by a government
-approved lab prior to shipping. Any that are found to be in
excess of 20 parts per billion (ppb) are not allowed for sale
for human consumption. However, many health professionals
feel that this standard may be too high, and should be
lowered.
Since it seems inevitable that Peanut butter will contain some
amount of aflatoxin, it begs the question why eat it at all?
Well firstly, It's a cheap source of protein, niacin, vitamin B6,
and artery-friendly monounsaturated fats. Secondly, it justs
tastes good, and good tasting food is hard to avoid (mind you
people with peanut allergies are very good at it).
You could just try and 'replace' peanut butter with a
substitute, but unfortunetly, great tasting peanut butter
alternatives like almond butter and my personal favorite
cashew butter, also run the risk of containing aflatoxins. And,
although a study conducted by the FSA in 2000-2001 suggests
that these peanut butter alternatives may have lower
contents of aflatoxins, the truth is, they will still contain
some aflatoxins.
For the most part, exposure to aflatoxins seems unavoidable
with the typical North American diet. Again, increasing the
variety of foods you eat seems to be an appropriate course of
action when dealing with Aflatoxins, so try other nut butters
including Almond, sunflower and cashew.
The best course of action is most likely to try your best to
increase the amounts of fruits and vegetables in your diet.
After all, if you can't help but eat small amounts of cancer
causing agents every day, it makes sense to offset this by
eating very large amounts of cancer fighting agents, like the
ones found in fruits and vegetables.
From a friend of mine's newsletter today:
The other day, I was having a conversation with several
nutrition graduate students when someone made the
comment that peanut butter is a "terrible food".
I've always personally thought that there really is no such
thing as a terrible food, or even a bad food for that matter. To
me, it is always a matter of moderation and variety.
The problem with peanut butter is the presence of two certain
strains of mold - Aspergillus Flavus and Aspergillus
Parasiticus. While we can't see either of these molds with the
naked eye, they are almost always present in peanut butter
(and many varieties of nuts, corn, grains, spices, soybeans,
beer and milk for that matter).
The trouble with these molds is that they secrete a natural
mycotoxin called aflatoxin, a known carcinogen that can cause
liver cancer in laboratory animals.
In 1965, the USDA set standards for acceptable levels of
aflatoxin in peanuts. Every peanut sheller is required by the
USDA to have every lot of peanuts tested by a government
-approved lab prior to shipping. Any that are found to be in
excess of 20 parts per billion (ppb) are not allowed for sale
for human consumption. However, many health professionals
feel that this standard may be too high, and should be
lowered.
Since it seems inevitable that Peanut butter will contain some
amount of aflatoxin, it begs the question why eat it at all?
Well firstly, It's a cheap source of protein, niacin, vitamin B6,
and artery-friendly monounsaturated fats. Secondly, it justs
tastes good, and good tasting food is hard to avoid (mind you
people with peanut allergies are very good at it).
You could just try and 'replace' peanut butter with a
substitute, but unfortunetly, great tasting peanut butter
alternatives like almond butter and my personal favorite
cashew butter, also run the risk of containing aflatoxins. And,
although a study conducted by the FSA in 2000-2001 suggests
that these peanut butter alternatives may have lower
contents of aflatoxins, the truth is, they will still contain
some aflatoxins.
For the most part, exposure to aflatoxins seems unavoidable
with the typical North American diet. Again, increasing the
variety of foods you eat seems to be an appropriate course of
action when dealing with Aflatoxins, so try other nut butters
including Almond, sunflower and cashew.
The best course of action is most likely to try your best to
increase the amounts of fruits and vegetables in your diet.
After all, if you can't help but eat small amounts of cancer
causing agents every day, it makes sense to offset this by
eating very large amounts of cancer fighting agents, like the
ones found in fruits and vegetables.