Phytic Acid!

That exclamation mark is to encourage the fascination that I have with this new found problem/solution.

I recently learned that many grains have naturally occurring enzyme inhibitors, which make them much harder to digest, which means you don't get the nutrients from them that you thought you were getting.

In addition to that, Phytic acid, or Phytate, is also a naturally occurring substance in grains, seeds, nuts and legumes. It binds to minerals and then carries them out of your body through your bowels (yum!). This could mean that you are absorbing very little of the nutrient content of those nutrient packed whole foods!

Fortunately, simply soaking the grains in water overnight dissolves the enzyme inhibitor, and putting a small amount (approx 2 Tbl. per dry cup ) of whey, kefir, or yogurt (or in a pinch, lemon juice) breaks down the phytic acid.

Phytase (the "ase" ending indicates an enzyme ) is the enzyme that breaks down phytic acid, so that you can actually absorb more of those minerals, (iron, calcium, magnesium etc.) from your grains and legumes. From what I understand, the water combined with the acid (whey, kefir, yogurt) is what helps the phytase do its job. I'm not sure why this wouldn't occur in your stomach, perhaps it does, but to a much lesser degree. Apparently (see Amanda Rose and her research below) tests have shown the lack of absorption of these important minerals.

And the worst part is (after I had just discovered how amazing steel cut oats were as opposed to instant) oatmeal retains its phytic acid even after you go through this extra step! I got a lot of great information from Amanda Rose, and she recommends mixing some freshly ground wheat berries into the oatmeal before you start soaking, because wheat has high amounts of phytase to break down the phytic acid. You can enroll in a free email "course" (from Amanda Rose) about phytic acid HERE! It's been interesting, she sends an email everyday (I'm on day 16, not sure how long it goes) with just a few points on a topic related to phytic acid and health or cooking. I've started a Word document to combine them all, because I don't do well with daily emails :)

One easy way to get whey is to strain some plain (organic!) yogurt through cheesecloth or muslin. Then you can use the strained yogurt to make a dip! We like to put garlic and basil in it 'round here.

Practical details: Leave the grains and water on the counter, or even in a warm place overnight covered with a plate, or clear plastic wrap, as the warmth seems to be essential to this process.
With the grains you don't have to throw out the water afterwards, as the phytic acid has been broken down so will not bind anymore. One exception might be quinoa, as you do need to rinse it to get rid of that natural bitter flavor...we rinsed ours before we soaked and after. It's not clear to me whether or not minerals are lost if you do end up throwing out the water. A bonus to this extra step is that cooking times will be MUCH shorter.

Most of the info I've just given applies to grains(which I eat the most, so I was most interested in), but could be a bit different for seeds, nuts and legumes. In addition to Amanda Rose, the Nourishing Traditions cookbook, by Sally Fallon talks about why and how we should soak these things as does one of the the blogs I have listed to the right The Nourishing Gourmet. It's a wonderful blog with lots of great cooking ideas, and she bases a lot of her cooking philosophy on Nourishing Traditions.

The Stevia Question

Stevia is a plant-derived sweetener that you're going to be hearing a lot about in the coming months. It is made from the leaf of the plant and can be 400 times as sweet as sugar, but without the blood sugar variations that most sweeteners inflict on us. In fact, it has been shown to improve blood sugar responses. The FDA just approved an extract (from what I understand, the sweet part) of the stevia plant called Rebaudioside-A for use in food products.

As most things, the sweetener's proponents and detractors have a lot to say. And I'll admit, I'm confused. When I was first introduced to the sweetener several years ago, I heard all the positives. When I read about the FDA approval yesterday I got more and more confused. Stevia's history with the FDA is apparently long and storied. In 1991 in the midst of some controversy, it was banned as a food product in the US, even though normal procedure is to consider foods safe until they have been proven otherwise. It was still allowed to be sold, but as a supplement (which is even more confusing because in the US the DHEA regulates vitamins and supplements as foods!). The thought was, in 1991, that the FDA was feeling pressure from the soda corporations that were entrenched with nutra-sweet/aspartame and other artificial sweeteners and so put the kibosh on approving it as a food additive.

All that aside, when I first read the news yesterday, I thought I was reading a criticism of the latest approval because it is only an approval of an extract of the plant, and therefore might be missing some of the better properties that a "whole food" could provide. But no, I guess that's just (part of) my bone to pick with this whole thing.

If any of you have tried stevia in the past, you may have noticed a slightly bitter aftertaste. Another troubling nugget that I learned while researching all of this is that many companies that now sell it claim to make it from a plant that basically has less of what makes it bitter. Combine that information with the fact that the Stevia plant doesn't produce many seeds, and is therefore easier to clone than breed (apologies if I'm using the wrong lingo here), and you've got plenty of reason to believe that the Stevia you buy is probably from a Genetically Modified Organism(GMO).

Another concern is all the processing that happens to get that sweet part out of the plant, as well as why Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Co are so interested in this...

I'm curious to see what happens next, and if maybe there's a piece to this puzzle that I'm missing. At the end of the day, it's always better to eat the whole food instead of some isolated element(that seems to be highly processed to boot). And it's good to know where it came from and what happened to the seed/plant before that. Nature! What a novel idea.

Some of the literature I've read now makes it unclear whether or not the FDA really gave the go ahead, or if they are just about to...

FYI: Trademarked stevia sweetners are Truvia™ (Coca Cola and Cargill) and PureVia™ (Whole Earth Sweetener Company LLC and PepsiCo).