CDC study finds kale 15th on the list of most nutrient-dense foods

[GotGarlic]

GG, I had to learn a little about the ability or lack of ability of plants to access "available" nutrients under certain conditions and it is a complicated question when focused on basil. How much more so it must be for a human. So I satisfy myself with making sure I'm eating sufficient quantities of a wide enough variety to get to 95% or so. It's interesting and rewarding to be able to see those numbers and the specific sources of particular nutrients on a given day.

It is, I agree; I used to do that with another tracker before my absorption issues became so serious. If you don't have those issues, it's probably pretty accurate.

 

[GotGarlic]

I knew tomatoes were often more nutritionally better when cooked but I did not know about spinach! Thanks GG!

I eat a fair amount of spinach. During the summer it is often in salads or as a replacement for lettuce type stuff in sandwiches. Winter I cook it more often.
LOL - and as much as I like it (include asparagus) I'm supposed to limit it - good ol'gout and arthritis rear their ugly heads.

Does "wilting" it between something and hot eggs count as "cooking"?

Yes. Lightly steaming or wilting is enough to break down the oxalic acid that binds iron and calcium in the spinach. And add strawberries or colored bell peppers for the vitamin C! [emoji2]

 

[taxlady]

A lot of Danish recipes for spinach or rhubarb or sorrel include something called "nonoxal". It neutralizes the oxalic acid. It's calcium chloride and combines with the oxalic acid, so the oxalic acid won't combine with iron. A Danish food scientist says that you don't need to use nonoxal with most rhubarb dishes, because in Denmark, they are almost always served with milk or cream and the calcium in the dairy product will neutralize the oxalic acid. Danes make a lot of rhubarb desserts.

 

[blissful]

Katie H said: "My normal belief is that the more vibrant and darker the fruit/vegetable, the better they are for our bodies."


Us, too. And so we ate the rainbow tonight.
View attachment 35657

Very pretty bowl of food/salad. I like eating like this too. Lots of color.

 

[GotGarlic]

A lot of Danish recipes for spinach or rhubarb or sorrel include something called "nonoxal". It neutralizes the oxalic acid. It's calcium chloride and combines with the oxalic acid, so the oxalic acid won't combine with iron. A Danish food scientist says that you don't need to use nonoxal with most rhubarb dishes, because in Denmark, they are almost always served with milk or cream and the calcium in the dairy product will neutralize the oxalic acid. Danes make a lot of rhubarb desserts.

Interesting. It seems odd that calcium in the spinach is bound with oxalic acid but calcium not in the spinach neutralizes the oxalic acid? I wonder how that works.

 

[Linda0818]

I like iceberg on sandwiches (for the crunch) and for tacos. I like mixed baby greens, escarole and arugala for salads (I like the sweet and bitter combo of the mix) and if I have any iceberg I sometimes add to the other greens also for the crunch.

Ditto on most of this, with the exception of the baby greens. Don't like those.

 

[taxlady]

Interesting. It seems odd that calcium in the spinach is bound with oxalic acid but calcium not in the spinach neutralizes the oxalic acid? I wonder how that works.

When I used the word "neutralizes", I didn't necessarily mean in the sense of making it less acidic. I was mentally translating from the Danish article. I don't know if it neutralizes the pH.

The calcium that is added neutralizes the rest of the oxalic acid by binding to it. The calcium in the spinach is already bound as calcium oxalate, so it isn't available to bind the rest of the oxalic acid. When more Ca is added, it binds to any available oxalic acid, thereby making the oxalic acid unable to bind with anything else.

 

[GotGarlic]

When I used the word "neutralizes", I didn't necessarily mean in the sense of making it less acidic. I was mentally translating from the Danish article. I don't know if it neutralizes the pH.

The calcium that is added neutralizes the rest of the oxalic acid by binding to it. The calcium in the spinach is already bound as calcium oxalate, so it isn't available to bind the rest of the oxalic acid. When more Ca is added, it binds to any available oxalic acid, thereby making the oxalic acid unable to bind with anything else.

I didn't mean pH, either. The oxalic acid in spinach is bound to iron as well as calcium. I have no idea how much unbound oxalic acid is in spinach, but it doesn't sound like adding calcium in the form of dairy releases the already bound elements. Some of the calcium in the dairy ends up bound by any free oxalic acid, so you lose the bioavailability of that without releasing what was already bound.

Does that make sense? Do we have a chemist here who could help us out? Skilletlicker, what was your investigation into basil about?

 

[taxlady]

I didn't mean pH, either. The oxalic acid in spinach is bound to iron as well as calcium. I have no idea how much unbound oxalic acid is in spinach, but it doesn't sound like adding calcium in the form of dairy releases the already bound elements. Some of the calcium in the dairy ends up bound by any free oxalic acid, so you lose the bioavailability of that without releasing what was already bound.

Does that make sense? Do we have a chemist here who could help us out? Skilletlicker, what was your investigation into basil about?

Adding calcium might protect teeth. Have you ever eaten raw rhubarb? It makes your teeth feel funny because of the oxalic acid. Also, the oxalic acid could steal calcium availability from other food. Adding a bunch of Ca would make up for that.

 

[bbqcoder]

People look at me like I've got two heads when I tell them I'm not fond of cheese and that I hate pepperoni.

I think the only cheese I would put on a salad would be good grated parmesan or real imported sheep-milk feta. I do like all other cheeses like cheddar but not in a salad.

I'm not a fan of kale, either, and I don't get the fascination people have with it. Apparently you have to "massage" it to make it palatable raw and sorry but I ain't massaging my food

Have you had roasted kale? That's the way I usually cook it. A bit of oil/salt/pepper on the kale in a roasting pan. Quick and easy.

 

[GotGarlic]

Adding calcium might protect teeth. Have you ever eaten raw rhubarb? It makes your teeth feel funny because of the oxalic acid. Also, the oxalic acid could steal calcium availability from other food. Adding a bunch of Ca would make up for that.

I'm not saying not to eat dairy. I love it and I know it has a lot of nutrition. I'm just trying to figure out how eating dairy with spinach could increase the bioavailability of the calcium in the spinach.

My dad grew rhubarb when I was growing up. I loved eating it right out of the garden with him. Yum

 

[GotGarlic]

Have you had roasted kale? That's the way I usually cook it. A bit of oil/salt/pepper on the kale in a roasting pan. Quick and easy.

I can't eat things like kale because of the high fiber content, as I explained earlier.

 

[taxlady]

I'm not saying not to eat dairy. I love it and I know it has a lot of nutrition. I'm just trying to figure out how eating dairy with spinach could increase the bioavailability of the calcium in the spinach.

My dad grew rhubarb when I was growing up. I loved eating it right out of the garden with him. Yum

It's not that adding calcium increases the bioavailability of the Ca in the spinach. It's that the oxalic acid in the spinach or rhubarb won't steal Ca from something else.