Alison Whitwood <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>My father used to grow lots of veggies in our garden. I used to love picking
>the pea pods and eating the fresh, raw peas inside. They tasted delicious
>and I preferred them to cooked peas.
>
>Are we saying they were inedible?
>
>Al

We need to come up with some new terminology here. Or a scale of
"Paleoness".

There is inedible in the sense of indigestibility, like cellulose.
Then
there is toxicity, with a whole range of mild to fatal, with some
toxins
building up over decades. Then there are foods with relatively trivial
problems, like the substances in cooked beans that causes gas. Then
there
are foods that contain substances that are allergens, which [if I read
the
article on lectins correctly] also exhibit toxicity by messing with
receptor sites on cells. Then there are foods or substances that
damage
cells' repair or genetic machinery directly, creating another order of
havoc.

Are there established medical terms for a substance that is
superficially
edible, but leaves toxic residues or effects when eaten for long
periods?
We use the word "allergenic" to describe foods having well-known
effects,
but is there a word that encapsulates the effect allergens have on
immune
system dysfunction?

I've been a technical writer for 24 years, and my observation is that
we
can only think effectively about technical issues when a common and
unambiguous terminology is in place. Perhaps we should develop a
glossary
for the list that introduces a set of terms we can use to classify
these
effects , especially since so many new people are signing up and
running
into the same ambiguities.

toxifer - carrying toxic chemicals?
toxigen - creating toxic effects?
gerontogen - substance which age cells, or wreck cellular repair
mechanisms
to perpetuate RNA-DNA transcription errors?
allergen - creating abnormal operation of the immune system

overt- causing immediate problems
covert - causing problems not immediately apparent

threshold - causing an effect after a certain concentration or
saturation
has been reached.
combinatorial - causing an undesirable effect only, or especially, in
combination with other substances.

Just throwing out ideas...

As far as the Paleoscale - :>

0 - Want fries with that?
1 - Endorsed by American Society of Cardiac Surgeons
.
.
.
8 - Still fresh
9 - Still warm
10- Still alive