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How do barukas, also known as baru almonds, compare with other nuts? There is a new nut on the market called baru almonds, branded as “barukas” or baru nuts. Technically, it isn’t a nut but a seed native to the Brazilian Savannah, known as the Cerrado, which is now among the most threatened ecosystems on […]

If the microbiome of those eating plant-based diets protects against the toxic effects of TMAO, what about swapping gut flora? “Almost 2,500 years ago, Hippocrates stated that ‘All disease begins in the gut.’” When we feed our gut bacteria right with whole plant foods, they feed us right back with beneficial compounds like butyrate, which

Is “toxic mold syndrome” a real thing? What do we do about toxic mold contamination of food? In recent years, mold has been blamed for all sorts of “vague and subjective” symptoms, but we have little scientific evidence that mold should be implicated. However, this “concept of toxic mold syndrome has permeated the public consciousness,”

The overall cost-benefit ratio for mycotoxins depends on which food is contaminated. Ochratoxin has been described as toxic to the immune system, developing fetus, kidneys, and nervous system, as well as being carcinogenic, but that is in animal studies. Ochratoxin “causes kidney toxicity in certain animal species, but there is little documented evidence of adverse

Most crops are contaminated with fungal mycotoxins, but some foods are worse than others. Oats can be thought of as “uniquely nutritious.” One route by which they improve human health is by providing prebiotics that “increase the growth of beneficial gut microbiota.” There are all manner of oats, ranging from steel-cut oats to, even better,

Ever since the days of Hippocrates, 2,400 years ago, fasting has been offered as a treatment for acute and chronic diseases, based on the observation that when people get sick they frequently lose their appetite. Along with fever, decreased food consumption is one of the most common signs of infection. Often regarded as an undesirable

One of the few food contaminants found at higher levels in those eating plant-based diets are mycotoxins, fungal toxins in moldy food ingredients, such as oats. In France, exposure to dietary contaminants was compared between vegetarians and meat-eaters, and the results showed that exposures to persistent organic pollutants like PCBs and dioxins were dramatically lower

How might we moderate the rare but very real risk of headbanging? If you search for heavy metal in the National Library of Medicine database, most of what you find is on heavy metal contamination in fish, which “makes it difficult to establish clearly the role of fish consumption on a healthy diet” and perhaps

What can reishi mushrooms, shiitake mushroom extracts, and whole, powdered white mushrooms do for cancer patients? “A regular intake of mushrooms can make us healthier, fitter, and happier, and help us live longer,” but what is the evidence for all that? “Mushrooms are widely cited for their medicinal qualities, yet very few human intervention studies

Did the five randomized controlled trials of reishi mushrooms in cancer patients show benefits in terms of tumor response rate, survival time, or quality of life? Can mushrooms be medicinal? Mushroom-based products make up a sizable chunk of the $50 billion supplement market. “This profitable trade provides a powerful incentive for companies to test the