Nuts, to eat or not to eat? That is the question.

Two questions in two night, what are the odds? But who cares? Anyway....

So this question comes from mom,
Mom's question goes

Ben (the food scientist), is it true that we can only eat limited nos of nuts per day? Eg 8 chashew / day , 10 almonds/ day . I tend to eat a big amount when i m in mood. pls advise. 

First off....remember to address by Ben the food scientist for a formal blog post answer, other than that, you can just call me Ben sweetie....

Secondly, are you nuts?!!? (No pun intended). Tree nuts or peanuts are intended for you to enjoy, in small quantities, with a beer or perhaps a glass of Cabernet. Nuts are not meant to be consumed by style of gavache, because geese and ducks are fed gavache, humans don't.

Ok, enough shit talk, back to the more sciency stuff. Nuts such as almonds, pecans and pistachios, are really gaining popularity among people that are more health conscious, primarily due to its more widely known unsaturated fatty acids content. Unsaturated fatty acids either monounsaturated (MUFA) or polyunsaturated (PUFA) are known to have benefits especially in protecting against cardiovascular diseases and chronic inflammation.

However, what people don't know is besides the healthy fats, tree nuts and peanuts are also notoriously known for their high phytate content. Phytate, or phytic acid, is a common phytochemical found in grains and seeds, and unfortunately, even though the word "phytochemical" may sound sexy and deceivingly healthy, the irony is, phytate serves as an anti-nutritional. Take almonds for example. 100 g of almonds contain betwen 1200-1400 mg of phytate. A high phytate content in the diet will inhibit the absorption of certain minerals, such as zinc, iron, magnesium, and calcium (1,2,3). Yes, we all know that nuts are also good sources of these minerals, however, presence does not equate availability.

So, the gist of it is, consume everything in moderation. Just like Paracelsus said, "the dose makes the poison". Even water, thought to be the purest form of inorganic material, when taken in large enough volume, can be deadly. So, nuts are meant to be enjoyed in small quantities (say, 50 g or a handful of almonds), and that's it. That way, we make sure that we harvest the oily goodness and the nutty flavor of roasted nuts, but is spared of the anti-nutritional properties of phytate.

Cotton and oxygen scavengers in the bottle

Yay! Finally...another blog post!

Anyway, the question comes from Wei Ling, and her question goes

Is it true that we must remove cotton or oxygen absorber from bottle medication or vitamins once opened? Why?

Well...first and foremost, you have to understand the purposes of having cotton and/or an oxygen scavenger in the bottle of either you over-the-counter (OTC) drugs or nutritional supplements.

Both cotton and the oxygen scavenger sachets functions the same, just in the different way. They both are inserted into the bottle to minimize oxygen in the bottle. Cotton fills in head space in the bottle; the less head space in the bottle, the less air, hence less oxygen. The oxygen scavenger works more directly by binding free oxygen in the bottle after sealing, hence creating an anaerobic or oxygen-free environment.

We all understand that oxygen oxidizes, especially the active components in your OTC drugs and/or supplements. Take ascorbic acid (or more widely known as vitamin C) as an example:


Figure 1. Oxidation of ascorbic acid.

With the presence of oxygen, oxidation occurs from the antioxidant ascorbic acid to the oxidized dehydroascorbic acid, and you don't want dehydroascorbic acid in your expensive vitamin C supplements.

So, bottom line answer......would I keep the cotton and oxygen scavenger in the bottle once it's opened? No. Why? Just because now that the bottle is opened, and will be opened at least once a day, I don't feel the need for anybody to reinsert the cotton and oxypads back into the bottle. One easy way to minimize oxidation is to simply store your medication and supplements in the refrigerator, because we all know that the rate of oxidation is directly proportional with storage temperature. In the other words, the colder it is, the better.

Well....hope this isn't information overload....