If he did, then he wasn't getting anywhere near as much nutrition as he would have if he ate cooked spinach instead!
I first heard about this when I was watching Iron Chef America episode: Battle Spinach (how dramatic!). One of the judges, Jeffery Steingarten, a culinary critic/columnist, said that he found it funny how people who eat raw spinach salads think they are being healthy, when raw spinach actually contains little to no nutritional value!
I was seriously shocked by this comment. In all of my internet travels I had never come across such a thing. Could this honestly be true? Could my delicious spinach salads be completely void of nutrition? Is Jeffery Steingarten secretly mocking me through the windows of my favorite cafe's, as I devour my raw spinach salad topped with candied walnuts and gorgonzola?!?!
After a quick google search, I came up with this handy piece of information:
"Nutrition blockers are chemicals that bind with some desirable vitamins or minerals and prevent your body from absorbing it. Oxalic acid in raw spinach forms an insoluble complex with calcium and iron and renders uncooked spinach a non-nutritious green."
There really isn't much information on this topic outside of that above tidbit. But if it's true, then I think I'll have to pass on the raw spinach for now. I'll convince myself that I like red leaf romaine better, anyway. :P
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5 comments:
Wow, I'm so surprised. Raw spinach is one of my favorites. Thanks for sharing!
~ Jen (Southerngal84 from TDP)
Wow, that's really interesting. And so many people say the rawer the veggie, the better. Sheds a lot of new light on this subject now.
I always ate spinach cooked until I started using it in salads. But now I think I'll stick to my usual lettuces instead being it isn't beneficial raw!
Hi ladies! I too was really surprised when I first heard of this. I'll have to do some research when I have a spare moment to see if this fact holds true for any other raw foods. Stay tuned :)
This is very intriguing. I too love raw spinach salads and always thought they were more healthful than lettuce. Would you mind giving the source of your research findings?
Susan (linked from TDP site)
Hi Susan,
Now I'm not saying I believe all (or any for that matter) of the following article. But here is it (I found it online and it is from printed material).
Sources: Bruce Ames, chairman of the biochemistry department at Berkeley. Jeffrey Steingarten food writer at Harvard College. Awards from James Beard foundation.
Title: Dangers of eating raw vegetables.
Let us look at the dangers of food coming not from the man-made pesticides, fungicides, or herbicides, but from the true danger, that is the fresh and natural poisons manufactured by the plant to stay alive and be able to multiply.
There are four categories of chemical armaments that salad deploys against human predators: nutrition blockers, toxins, mutagens (which alter genetic material), and carcinogens.
Nutrition blockers are chemicals that bind with some desirable vitamins or minerals and prevent your body from absorbing it.
Oxalic acid in raw spinach forms an insoluble complex with calcium and iron and renders uncooked spinach a non-nutritious green. The same is happening in raw beet green, Swiss chard and rhubarb. (But eating raw rhubarb could produce death due to toxic anthraquinone glycosides.)
Antithiamine substances bind with the vitamin B thyamine and stops its absorption. They are in raw red cabbage, Brussels sprouts and beets. Similarly in in mustard seeds, some berries, cottonseed oil and some ferns (fiddlehead). Raw egg contains avidin, which binds up the vitamin B (biotin) and acts the same way.
Uncooked grain protein (wheat germ) which contains magnesium, zinc and copper, is bound by phytates. Raw soybeans contain a neutralizing agent to vitamin B12 and vitamin D.
Raw kidney beans, alfalfa and some peas block vitamin E and could cause, in some incidences, liver disease.
Protease (enzyme that breaks down proteins) inhibitors in raw turnips, rutabagas, chickpeas, bamboo sprouts, cashews, peanuts, and most beans counteract the enzymes in our body that digest protein. The same way amylase inhibitors in raw red kidney beans and navy beans make their carbohydrate unusable.
These salad ingredients act as anti-nutrient only in their raw state. It is important to know the right method, temperature and cooking time for each vegetable.
Toxins are chemical compounds in food that are toxic when consumed in small or large quantities.
Cyanogens are found in Lima and other broad beans. They are also in unripe millet, young bamboo shots, cassava, manioc and tapioca. They must be carefully peeled, washed under running water and boiled without a lid.
Goitrogens are chemicals that cause extreme enlargement of the thyroid glands among people with little iodine, by preventing intake of iodine from the food. Goitrogenes are found in raw cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, turnips, rutabagas, cauliflower, mustard seeds and horse radish. These are broken down by cooking.
Chickpeas could cause lathyrism (neurological lesions of the spinal cord.) The sale of chickpeas is illegal in many states in India. If you soak chickpeas overnight and cook them in excess of boiling water, they will not give you lathyrism.
Favism is a disease named after fava bean. Mild cases could result in fatigue and nausea, acute cases in jaundice. Cooking will not protect you if you make potato salad with green immature potatoes, which could contain lethal amounts of solanine in their sprouts and skin.
Undercooked kidney beans (al-dente) contain hemagglutinins, which make your blood cells stick together and account for poor growth among children.
Soyabean sprouts and yams are high in estrogenic factors that can inflict havoc with woman's hormones.
Aflatoxin is among the most potent carcinogen known and is present in mold contaminated grain and nuts. Almost as hazardous are the hydrazines in some raw molded mushrooms or basil which contains lots of estragole. Safrole is a compound related to estragole and it is the reason natural root beer is now banned by the FDA.
That much about salad components. And what about raw fruits? Unlike the antisocial vegetable, ripe fruit is friendly and loves to be eaten and have it seeds widely dispersed.
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