Christopher:

> Jean-Louis, thanks for researching Vitamin E losses in roasted nuts.  As
> you say, the USDA numbers are "amazing" -- a little bit TOO AMAZING, alas.
> They are, if you'll pardon my lapse into technical scientific terminology,
> bullshit.

Bovine faeces?

> Are we to suppose that in 4 out of 6 cases the vitamin content, measured
> after roasting, is EXACTLY the same ...

Not 4 out of 6, but 3 out of 6 (for hazelnuts, it was 23.920 and
23.900, but I said vitamin loss was 0% for simplicity).

> In the real world, ANY two measurements would show some
> deviation due to chance alone -- even if we simply measured two different
> handfuls of the same raw nuts.

I agree. Of course, in principle you could take the average over a
large number of measurements (if you make n measurements, the standard
deviation is then divided by the square root of n, approximately). But
getting to the fourth digit is practically impossible.

> All the more so after roasting one handful.  I'm betting all these roasted
> nuts sustain losses much like peanuts (15%) or almonds (77%).
> Maybe less, maybe more -- but not 0.00 percent!

Given the huge difference between peanuts and almonds (which is per se
amazing), I can't exclude the possibility that losses for other nuts
are close to 0% (or, let's say, lower than 1%).

> But did somebody,
> instead of actually doing the lab tests, simply copy the numbers from one
> column to the other?

That's certainly possible. The only way to find out would be to
check other sources.


By the way, I came across this:

---------------------------------------------
Ovesen L et al. The effect of microwave heating on vitamins B1 and E,
and linoleic and linolenic acids, and immunoglobulins in human
milk.Int J Food Sci Nutr 1996 Sep;47(5):427-36

Breast milk was treated with (1) conventional heating (in water bath) vs
microwave heating; (2) microwave heating at two power levels (30%
and 100%); (3) increasing final temperatures; and (4) microwave
thawing vs refrigerator thawing and examined for changes in specific
immunoglobulins to a pool of E. coli and poliovirus type 1 antigens,
vitamins E and B1, and the polyunsaturated fatty acids linoleic and
linolenic acid. Immunoglobulin activities were stable until final milk
temperatures of around 60-65 degrees C were reached, and total
inactivation occurred at 77 degrees C. Heating even to high final
temperatures did not change contents of vitamins and polyunsaturated
fatty acids. No differences in immunoglobulins and nutrients were
demonstrated between microwave heating and conventional heating, and
between power levels or thawing methods. The study shows that
microwave heating of human milk can be performed without significant
losses of examined immunoglobulins and nutrients, provided that final
temperatures are below 60 degrees C.


--Jean-Louis Tu <[log in to unmask]>