Posted on 10/10/2006 7:17:41 PM PDT by blam
New Insights Into Healthful Compounds In Native American Diets
In an advance toward understanding the early California Native American diet, food scientists have identified the full range of phytochemicals in tanoak acorns.
Acorns were a staple in the diet of early Native Americans in California, comprising up to 50 percent of total food intake, Alyson E. Mitchell and colleagues note in a report in the current (Oct. 4) issue of the ACS biweekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Acorns are still used by Californian Native Americans -- special processing is needed to make the nuts edible -- to make acorn flour and soup.
Past research has indicated that acorns have higher levels of healthful tannin compounds than other nuts, so Mitchell's group set out to identify the specific hydrolyzable and condensed tannins in acorns. These same compounds are found in wine, cocoa and other foods with health benefits.
Researchers identified more than two dozen specific compounds, in what they termed a first step toward understanding the role of those compounds in Native American diets.
They have to be leached in repeated changes of water. Once won't do it.
For Those Interested in the Research of Dr. Weston A. Price |
Primitive foodways ping
Toss me on the primitive foods ping list. I had no idea that we even had such a list going.
What next? Lightning-out-of-anus-while-brushing-teeth ping list?
Oops. Have that one too ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1717002/posts
At least she lived to tell about it.
Hunt and gather, hunt and gather, never a moment to one self...please add me to this ping list, thanks.
"Firewater"?
Rotgut whiskey...
The research of dental Doctor Weston Price (early 20th century) gives evidence of a different story. The primitive diets of many peoples over the globe provided excellent teeth and bones. See his book, "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration"--the pictures alone are fascinating.
Using the kitchen faucet works a lot better; warm running water for about 15 minutes should do it.
Native Americans usually used repeated washings in cold water, so it took a lot longer.
Grinding the acorns in stone bowls and leaching the mixture on a bed of sand added a lot of grit to the diet. This wore the teeth quite a bit, but that, and the lack of sugars, resulted in very few cavities. There was more risk of tooth loss from wearing into the pulp cavity, as in the areas which relied heavily on acorns the teeth were often seriously worn by age 30-40 (especially the first molars).
"Shhhh!!! The movie's about to begin," she whispered, not really hearing what he said over the sounds of crunching popcorn and candy wrappers - her own! ;-)
Correct except for the canola oil part. Canola is one of the worst modern foods in existence. Butter is much healthier.
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