Naked Science Forum
General Science => Question of the Week => Topic started by: jamest on 23/11/2023 14:46:55
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Fraser asks,
My wife and I like to think we eat a pretty healthy and balanced diet, conscious of supporting our gut biome and doing regular intensive exercise. So, we like to think that the seeds we liberally sprinkle on our porridge or home made fruit salad are having a positive impact on our health. But are they? The scientists who crunch, grind, dissolve and whatever else they do with seeds to extract and identify the nutrients, advocate the many benefits of these. However, many seeds seem designed to pass straight through the digestive system of the animal that ate them. Do raw, shop bought, seeds do this with us, or can our bodies actually extract and use the all nutrients they contain?
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One is supposed to chew one's food, that's what teeth are for.
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My mother often remarked that the people who work in "health food" shops all seem pale and sickly.
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If you are careless when eating apples you should be glad that the pips go through unchanged.
If chewed they release cyanide- though not enough to do any harm.
Eating seeds is pretty much universal when you think about it; wheat, maize, rice and so on as well as pulses and nuts are essentially seeds.
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A lot of prunus species also contain cyanogenic glycosides.