On Tue, 22 Aug 2000, ginny wilken wrote:

> >I dunno. I have a problem with this. The
> >classification "legumes" covers huge territory. There
> >are plenty of legumes edible in their raw state -
> >including peanuts. So, even though they are a new
> >world food, I would have to class them in the "maybe
> >OK if they don't give you problems" category... kind
> >of like tomatoes. After all, I can't see a
> >hunter-gatherer saying, "No son, that plant is a
> >legume. We don't eat legumes...."
>
> Hey, thanks, Wally! I was thinking something along the same lines. Are
> legumes all poisonous?

No.  As Wally pointed out, peanuts are edible raw, and some
people prefer them that way.  They also have some interesting
nutritional advantages.  They are an excellent source of folic
acid, and the peanut protein is quite high in arginine, which
your body uses to make nitric oxide.  It was recently discovered
(Nobel prize, 1998) that arginine-derived nitric oxide plays an
important role in cardiovascular health.  Peanuts, like other
legumes, have a very low glycemic index, and a low carb content
in general.  In fact, if you ate 3 cups of peanuts a day, and
little else, you'd get (in 2,500 kcal) 111g of protein and only
about 33g of utilizable carbs.  In short, you'd probably be in
ketosis.  I'm not suggesting this as a dietary strategy, since
you'd also be getting way too much w-6 fat and no vitamin A...
Epidemiological studies do not appear to link peanut consumption
with any health problems; if anything, the opposite is true.

It is true that there can be low levels of aflatoxin on peanuts.
If, however, you are going to avoid foods for this reason, then
you must also avoid cherries and cranberries, which are also
subject to aflatoxin contamination (There are others, too, but
these are the ones that stick in my mind at the moment).
Aflatoxin causes liver cancer, but I have been unable to find any
evidence of higher liver cancer rates in peanut eaters.

Refined peanut oil may be atherogenic, at least in some animal
studies, but there is no evidence that whole peanuts are.  Most
of the fat is monounsaturated and polyunsaturated.  Peanuts are a
good source (better than red wine) of the substance resveratrol,
which is believed to be anti-atherogenic.

> And should all New World foods be ineligible? The foods themselves may have
> been around, even if there were no hominids to eat them. If there had been,
> would they have eaten them, along with yams and nopales? ...Not to mention
> Solanaceae. Nobody said anything about eggplants yet.

If you adhere to the principle that we should only eat foods that
humans have been eating for very long times, then all New World
foods are out.  Around here, opinions vary on that question.

Todd Moody
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