Let's tackle some of the great listener questions we've received recently.
Listeners have questions—about sushi, plums, asparagus, and more. Nutrition Diva has answers.
Nutrition Diva is hosted by Monica Reinagel. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
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Hello and welcome to the Nutrition Diva podcast. I’m your host Monica Reinagel, and today I want to tackle some of the great questions about food that listeners have sent in recently.
The first one, from Mary, came in response to my recent episode on prunes, which, among other things, can be useful in preventing constipation. She points out that prunes are actually dehydrated plums. So why, she wants to know, don't people talk about plums to help with constipation? What’s the difference?
Mary is correct that prunes are dried plums. But there are many different varieties of plums and not all of them can be dried into prunes. Most of the plums that you buy fresh at the grocery store or farmer’s market are clingstone plums. Whereas plums that are grown for drying are usually freestone, meaning that the pit releases easily without having to cut the fruit in half. (You can buy prunes both with and without the pit.)
As I talked about in my previous episode, the notorious laxative effect of prunes is due in part to their high sorbitol content. This higher sorbitol content is one of the things that makes certain varieties of plums particularly suitable for drying, because it helps prevent fermentation of the sugars during the drying process.
Because they are lower in sorbitol, most fresh plums will not have as noticeable a laxative effect.
But that wasn’t Mary’s only question. She also wanted to know why only some people experience the phenomenon known as “asparagus pee,” where their urine has a distinct smell after they eat asparagus. Do those people digest asparagus differently?
The first thing you need to know is that asparagus pee is totally harmless. It’s caused by a compound unique to asparagus, appropriately named asparagusic acid. During digestion, this acid is broken down into compounds that contain sulfur, which are then excreted in the urine and give it a strong odor. This phenomenon can be observed in as little as 15 minutes but may be noticeable for many hours after eating even small amounts of asparagus..
But, as Mary points out, it doesn’t seem to happen to everyone! A small number of people (around 10%) appear to lack one of the digestive enzymes that results in those sulfuric compounds. For them, eating asparagus does not cause a noticeable change in the odor of their urine.
But a much larger segment of the population (up to half) has a harmless genetic modification that makes them unable to detect that particular odor. So, if you think your pee isn’t smelly after asparagus, others in your household may beg to differ!
Mary, who has clearly been storing up nutrition questions for a while, sent one more question that I’d like to address in today’s episode. (The rest I will save for future episodes.) She points out that peanuts are technically legumes and not true nuts. And she’s right: botanically speaking, peanuts are in the same family as soybeans, kidney beans, and other dried beans.
So, she wants to know, when we talk about the benefits of eating nuts, does that include peanuts? And the answer is generally yes.
Most of the studies that have linked nut consumption with various health benefits included peanuts in their definition of nuts, even though they are technically legumes. As a rule, legumes are low in fat. But peanuts have a higher fat content, similar to that of most nuts. And that’s why they tend to get grouped with nuts in dietary guidelines.
Many of you are familiar, for example, with my Nutrition GPA app, which I created to give people a simple and fun way to track and improve their eating habits. In the Nutrition GPA app (which you can download for free from the app store), having a serving of nuts scores you some points for the day. Eating a serving of legumes also scores you points for the day. And for the purposes of the app, peanuts are counted as nuts and not legumes.
(By the way, I’m going to be kicking off a 30-Day Nutrition Upgrade challenge, which features the Nutrition GPA app, in just a couple of weeks. If you’re listening to this episode when it is released and you’d like to join us, you can sign up at nutritionovereasy.com/upgrade. And use the promo code Diva20 to save 20%!)
I got a different question about nuts from Lisa, who started using the Nutrition GPA app earlier this year, when her workplace sponsored a Nutrition Upgrade program as part of their corporate wellness programming. (And if you’re interested in having me do a program at your workplace, shoot me an email at nutrition@quickanddirtytips.com and I’ll put you in touch with the people who organize those!)
As I mentioned, eating a serving of nuts earns you points in the Nutrition GPA app. But Lisa was wondering how many servings of seeds and nuts is considered a healthy amount?
“I eat sunflower and pumpkin seeds daily,” she wrote. “I also eat Brazil nuts and walnuts on a regular basis. Do you have a recommended daily intake for nuts? Weight is not an issue for me in case that factors in.”
(And I was glad she included that last part because it does factor in.)
A standard serving of nuts or seeds is just a small handful (a quarter of a cup, or about the size of an egg). The serving size is relatively small because these foods are high in fats, which makes them rather calorie-dense. Meaning: they pack lots of calories into a relatively small space.
If weight management is a concern, you might want to limit your consumption to just 1 serving a day. But if, like Lisa, you have room in your eating plan for more calories (without skimping on other important categories like protein and vegetables) you can certainly include more than that.
That said, it's possible to overdo just about anything. For example, brazil nuts are quite high in selenium. Excessive amounts of selenium can eventually make your nails brittle and your hair falls out. The safe upper limit for selenium is 400 mcg per day. And one ounce of Brazil nuts provides up to 550mcg of selenium, depending on where they’re grown. Going over the limit occasionally won’t cause your hair to fall out. But you might not want to eat Brazil nuts every single day.
As for seeds, the only caveat there is that they are relatively high in omega-6 fats. Omega-6 are not bad for you. (In fact, they're essential.) But it's important to keep a balance between omega-3 and omega-6 in the diet. The typical American diet tends to be low in omega-3 and high in omega-6. Just something to keep in mind if you are eating many servings of sunflower/pumpkin seeds every day.
And speaking of omega-3 fats, we have time for one more question, this one from Manlin, who wants to know the difference between sushi-grade salmon and the normal supermarket salmon. “Could you please give us a guide to prepare/eat raw fish at home?”
“Sushi-grade” is used to indicate fish that it’s safer to eat raw. Note that I said safer, not safe. As you may have noticed in small print at the bottom of every sushi menu you’ve ever seen, eating raw or undercooked fish (or eggs or meat) involves a certain risk of food-borne pathogens. In the case of fish, it may be bacteria (such as salmonella) or parasites (such as tapeworms).
The only way to completely eliminate this risk is to cook the fish. However, these risks can be reduced by handling the fish in specific ways. Specifically, it involves quickly freezing the fish to very low temperatures (much lower than your freezer, for example) for a specific period of time to minimize the risk of parasites–and then thawed right before serving. Fish that is not being sold for sushi may not be handled the same way.
Note that while fresh fish is likely to taste a lot better, it’s not necessarily safer to eat raw. You could haul a fish out of the water and eat it right there on the boat. It would obviously be very fresh but because it has not been frozen, it would not be considered safe to eat raw.
The other thing to keep in mind is that use of the term “sushi-grade” is not regulated. Although the FDA does have guidelines on how to handle fish that will be consumed raw, they do not guarantee that fish that’s labeled “sushi-grade” has been handled according to those guidelines.
Personally, although I have a wide DIY streak (says the one who has actually made her own Worcestershire sauce), sushi is one of those things that I prefer to leave to the professionals. Even if you only eat raw fish from sources you trust, be aware that there is always a small risk to consuming raw or undercooked fish. People with compromised immune systems or women who are pregnant are usually advised to steer clear.
But our perception of risk seems to be sort of culturally programmed. European women think nothing of consuming unpasteurized cheese throughout their pregnancies, just as the Japanese do not stop eating sushi during theirs. Here in America, pregnant women swear off the brie and raw seafood but don’t hesitate to eat poached eggs or medium-done burgers. If minimizing your risk of food-borne illness is the goal, you’d want to avoid all of these.
Do you have questions about food and nutrition? You can email them to nutrition@quickanddirtytips.com and you may hear your question in an upcoming episode. But one of the benefits of participating in the upcoming 30 Day Nutrition Upgrade is the chance to ask me all your nutrition questions in our private community. You can learn more and sign up at nutritionovereasy.com/upgrade and don’t forget to use the promo code Diva20 for 20% off the registration.