The principles of eating so-called alkaline-producing foods were first made clear by French biologist Claude Bernard, a giant of science who made many important discoveries, including that the liver stores and releases glycogen and the pancreas releases digestive juices.

It was Bernard’s word on what was later called “homeostasis” that led to the evolution of the alkaline diet. Bernard believed that among the factors that promoted or disturbed a healthy internal environment was the pH of the body and blood. He theorized that an acidic environment, in particular, is a breeding ground for chronic disease — and that what you eat can impact your bodily pH.

Variations of this acid-alkaline dietary pattern have existed since the beginning of the 20th century. But its popularity skyrocketed again in the last few decades via early health influencers like Robert Young, author of The pH Miracle, and the Honduran herbalist Dr. Sebi (who inspired many people to adopt a vegan alkaline diet).

But is there any truth to these theories that the pH of food impacts blood pH, and, therefore, susceptibility to disease? And is the alkaline diet inherently a healthy dietary pattern?

In this article, we’ll take a look at the alkaline diet, comparing its claims to the available scientific evidence.

Understanding pH

In order to understand the alkaline diet and its claims, we need to at least have a basic understanding of pH. Potential of hydrogen or pH is a measurement of the acidity or alkalinity of a liquid. The pH scale goes from 0.0 (highly acidic) to 14.0 (highly alkaline or “basic”) with a neutral point of 7.0.

Our stomachs are very acidic environments with a normal pH of 1.5–3.5. We secrete hydrochloric acid to help us digest our food, activate enzymes, and break down proteins into amino acids. Maintaining those stomach acids also helps protect us from pathogens in the digestive system.

On the other hand, blood is slightly basic or alkaline, with a pH of 7.35–7.45. The body’s acid-base balance is mainly controlled by the respiratory system and the renal system (kidneys). Maintaining this equilibrium is important for the functioning of basic bodily systems, and any disturbance in this pH can be a serious (and even life-threatening) problem.

So What Does the Alkaline Diet Claim?

The central claim of the alkaline diet is that what you eat can alter the pH level of your blood and cells. And that a more alkaline body pH (achieved from the food you eat) can prevent many diseases, including cancer and osteoporosis, while also providing increased energy and well-being.

When it comes to cancer, the theory is that cancer cells thrive in an acidic environment, so ingesting more alkalizing foods will create a more alkaline and anticancer environment. In this view, eating too many acid-forming foods can put your body into a state of acidosis and result in a decrease in blood pH, with serious metabolic and respiratory consequences in the body.

The bone health theory goes like this: Your body works diligently to keep your blood pH at a healthy level in your arteries and slightly lower in your veins. If you acidify your blood (by eating acid-forming foods, among other things), your body will do whatever it can to achieve equilibrium, including pulling calcium, an alkalizing mineral, from your bones.

To sum it up, the standard Western diet, according to this theory, degrades health and increases the risk of chronic diseases because it promotes an acidic body environment. And an alkaline diet alkalizes the body and blood, staving off chronic disease.

The Alkaline Diet: Foods to Eat vs Avoid

So what foods are supposed to contribute to this alkalizing effect in the body, and which foods don’t?

Most alkaline diet protocols encourage you to eat more alkaline foods that, when metabolized, also leave an alkaline “residue” in your body. Eating this way doesn’t necessarily mean removing all acidic foods from your diet, but instead prioritizing alkaline foods (75–80% of your diet) over acidic ones (20–25% of your diet).

Alkaline foods include many, but not all, vegetables, as well as some fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices, and cold-pressed oils. Neutral and low-acidic foods are also okay in moderation, the majority of which are fruit. Most of the high-alkaline foods are green in color, with leafy greens, green vegetables, and sprouts topping the list.

On the other hand, the foods to avoid on an alkaline diet are those believed to produce an acidic effect. Meat and poultry, dairy, eggs, bread, sweets, and condiments; processed, canned, and fast foods; and beverages like coffee, alcohol, and tea are all off-limits on an alkaline diet.

What the Alkaline Diet Gets Right

Ultimately, there’s a lot of focus on the consumption of whole, plant-based foods and the elimination of most animal products and processed foods on the alkaline diet. So whether or not the underlying theory of the alkaline diet is accurate, there’s no question that eating the preferred foods — whole plants — confers many nutritional benefits.

Conventional Western-style diets are notoriously low in fiber, which is one of the most severely lacking nutrients in industrialized societies. But because the alkaline diet prioritizes whole, plant-based foods, it can make it much more likely you’ll achieve the 25–35 grams of recommended fiber per day.

Eating more fruits and vegetables also means that you’ll be ingesting lots of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. And choosing whole foods over processed or fast foods improves your sodium-to-potassium ratio, which can benefit bone health, reduce muscle wasting, and mitigate other chronic diseases such as hypertension and strokes.

The diet may also be helpful for people with chronic kidney disease because it tends to be relatively low in protein. One systematic review showed evidence that the inclusion of alkaline-producing fruits and vegetables or a vegetarian diet low in acid-producing protein (animal products) can slow kidney disease by reducing metabolic acidosis.

In effect, the alkaline diet can be a perfectly healthy eating pattern for many people because it’s predominantly a plant-based one.

What the Alkaline Diet Gets Wrong

Food Affecting Blood pH

The big problem with the claims made by alkaline diet proponents is that they’re based on a misunderstanding of pH and how the body regulates blood pH. The relative alkalinity of the foods you eat doesn’t generally affect the alkalinity or acidity of your blood.

Acids are continuously being produced in the body during normal metabolic processes, but they don’t influence overall bodily pH in healthy individuals. Your body works hard to keep that 7.35–7.45 blood pH range, which is slightly on the alkaline side. If there’s too much acid or base in your system, built-in physiological buffers get rid of it through your urine.

Changing your diet might change the pH of your saliva or urine, but it’s practically impossible to affect the pH of your blood by what you eat. The only times that blood pH is affected is in the case of an acid-base disorder such as advanced stages of shock, diabetic ketoacidosis, or kidney failure — all of which are medical emergencies and not the result of not eating enough alkaline foods.

Focusing on the Wrong Benefits

Not only does the alkaline diet theory misunderstand the mechanisms through which your body regulates its pH, but the narrow focus on this one attribute of plant-based foods ignores the many benefits of plant-based eating that are actually backed up by science. A whole food, plant-based diet supplies an abundance of powerful antioxidants, fiber, and a rainbow of health-promoting phytochemicals. In short, the alkaline diet’s health benefits are real, but they likely have little to do with pH.

Confusing and Restrictive

With a focus mostly on pH and choosing the most alkaline foods, there’s a risk of dietary restriction to the point of nutrient deficiency. It’s easy to get confused about what you are and aren’t supposed to eat, as there’s a lack of consistency in the recommendations, which vary widely. Some lists, for example, say that mushrooms are highly acidic, while others tell us that they are alkalizing.

Little to No Scientific Backing

And most problematic of all, there’s minimal scientific evidence to support the alkaline diet’s biggest claims around diet alkalinity protecting against chronic disease or affecting blood pH.

One 2010 study found that low urine pH predicted neither low bone density nor bone fractures, while another from the same year discovered no correlation between dietary acid load and bone mineral density in older women. A 2011 study found no correlation between dietary acid load and lower bone density, except possibly in older men.

And a 2016 review of over 8,000 published articles relating to dietary pH and cancer found a single clinical trial on the topic. This trial found no relationship between the acid load of the diet and bladder cancer. The researchers concluded, “Despite the promotion of the alkaline diet and alkaline water by the media and salespeople, there is almost no actual research to either support or disprove these ideas.”

The Bottom Line

The alkaline diet, which focuses on pH balance, is a popular diet with many adherents and proponents. It is inherently whole food, plant-based, which can be great, and it’s been shown to be helpful for chronic kidney disease. But beyond that, there’s little to no scientific evidence to support its other health claims. In fact, it’s likely that its benefits have more to do with all of the known advantages that come with a whole food, plant-based diet that steers clear of added sugars, highly processed foods, and animal products.

Tell us in the comments:

• Were you already familiar with the alkaline diet? Have you ever tried it?
• What do you think of the alkaline diet approach?
• What other dietary patterns do you have questions about?

Featured Image: iStock.com/vaaseenaa

Read Next:

• Does Science Support the Blood Type Diet?
• A Guide to Going Plant-Based: What to Eat, Benefits, and How to Succeed

The post The Alkaline Diet: Separating Fact from Fiction appeared first on Food Revolution Network.

What do you do to stay alive and thrive in the face of all these challenges? If you answered “synthesize polyphenols,” then congratulations! You’ve just won this round of “Are You as Smart as a Plant?”

Polyphenols are a class of compounds (a huge class, actually, made up of at least 8,000 different ones that we know of) that are in a wide variety of plant foods. You may have heard of some of them, like resveratrol (found in grapes and red wine) and EGCG (featured in green tea).

Plants produce them as protection from various threats, including disease and sun damage. And animals who consume those plants can also benefit from polyphenols in similar ways.

As industrialized societies struggle to contain multiple epidemics of chronic disease, many medical experts and researchers are now pointing to polyphenols (and other nutrients found in whole, minimally processed plant foods) as powerful allies in preventing and treating a variety of chronic conditions.

So in this article, we’ll explore the world of polyphenols, including how they work in your body, their health benefits, and whether you should get them from food or supplements.

What Are Polyphenols?

Polyphenols are natural compounds found in various plants. Researchers consider polyphenols to be kind of “bonus” compounds, or in their jargon, “secondary metabolites.” This means they’re not directly involved in the growth, development, or reproduction of a plant.

Plants produce polyphenols as a defense mechanism against ultraviolet radiation and aggression from pathogens. But they aren’t purely defensive; they’re also deployed to attract pollinators.

From our perspective, polyphenols play a significant role in the flavors and health benefits that many plant foods offer. They can change the way plants taste, and determine their colors and aromas.

Polyphenols are also antioxidants, so their presence can keep plant foods from rotting (a trick known as “oxidative stability”). They also can help prevent oxidative stress in your body after you consume them, which can help stave off many types of disease.

There are several subfamilies of polyphenols, including flavonoids, phenolic acids, and lignans. In addition to resveratrol and EGCG mentioned above, another well-studied polyphenol is curcumin, found in turmeric root and powder.

What Are the Health Benefits of Polyphenols?

The “poly” in polyphenol means that all compounds in this family have multiple phenolic hydroxyl groups — but could just as easily refer to their ability to prevent and treat multiple health conditions.

Polyphenols and Cancer Prevention

Both test-tube and animal studies suggest that polyphenols can help prevent the initiation and progression of several cancers. They do this via a number of mechanisms, including inhibiting the proliferation and spread of cancer cells, suppressing tumor growth, preventing the formation of new blood vessels, and fighting inflammation.

Different classes of polyphenols exhibit different anticancer properties. For example, flavonoids, including quercetin and kaempferol, can inhibit cancer cell growth and induce cancer cell death. Resveratrol suppresses tumor growth, inhibiting metastasis and reducing angiogenesis. And curcumin, derived from turmeric, is multitalented; it’s anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, apoptotic, antiangiogenic — and a bunch of other words that don’t begin with A.

Many forms of polyphenols are also known to influence critical signaling pathways that are integral to the initiation, advancement, and spread of cancer.

And polyphenols aren’t just cancer fighters on their own; they’re also team players. Researchers have found that polyphenol combinations are more powerful than the effects of each one individually. For example, a mixture containing quercetin, curcumin, green tea, Cruciferex (a proprietary blend of polyphenols found in cruciferous vegetables), and resveratrol significantly inhibited the growth of a particular cancer of the head and neck.

Polyphenols and Heart Health

Polyphenols can also protect your heart in a bunch of different ways. They reduce cardiac inflammation and oxidative stress, support cell mitochondria in doing their job properly, and increase survival signaling (the ways cells talk to each other when they encounter a potential threat).

Some polyphenols have also been found to reduce the formation of blood clots, which decreases the risk of heart attacks and strokes. And the flavonoid family of polyphenols promotes the dilation of blood vessels, which helps lower blood pressure and improve blood flow — both of which help with cardiovascular health.

Polyphenols can also improve your cholesterol profile — specifically, lowering LDL and increasing HDL cholesterol levels, thereby reducing the risk of atherosclerosis.

Some polyphenols are not easily absorbed by your small intestine, but it turns out that these polyphenols can be metabolized by the microbes in your gut into compounds that contribute to cardiovascular health.

Impressed by these myriad beneficial mechanisms, some researchers are now studying therapeutic protocols for using polyphenols in medicine to prevent and treat cardiovascular disease.

Polyphenols and Diabetes

One of the most dangerous consequences of diabetes can be vascular disorders, where persistent high blood sugar levels cause damage to blood vessels through inflammation, oxidation, and cell death. Polyphenols can combat all three mechanisms. And scientists are exploring how to use them to modulate the expression of the genes involved in the development of vascular conditions.

Human and animal studies (our views on the use of animals in medical research can be found here) show that polyphenols can lower high blood sugar levels and enhance the body’s ability to secrete insulin quickly and respond to it effectively.

It appears polyphenols accomplish this via several mechanisms. They slow down how quickly your body absorbs sugar from the food you eat. And they encourage your pancreas to produce more insulin in response to carbohydrate consumption. They also regulate how much glycogen the liver releases into your blood in the form of sugar.

If all that wasn’t enough, polyphenols also help insulin receptors work more efficiently and help tissues absorb more sugar than they would otherwise.

Polyphenols also fight diabetes by helping to protect pancreas cells that produce insulin from damage due to high glucose levels. They also promote the growth of these cells and slow down their death.

Polyphenols and Osteoporosis Benefits

As you age, you lose bone mass — that’s natural. But your diet and lifestyle can significantly influence the rate at which that happens. In some people, the process accelerates due to oxidative stress messing with the living tissues in bone: the osteoblasts and osteoclasts that build and break down bone, respectively.

Since polyphenols are such powerful antioxidants, researchers theorized that eating berries (one of the richest food sources of the compounds) could help reduce bone loss due to stress and aging. And they might have been on to something because several studies have now shown that people who eat a lot of berries also have higher bone mass. Since the standard pharmaceutical treatments for osteoporosis have a high rate of serious side effects, there’s a lot to be gained by exploring how eating polyphenol-rich foods can help prevent or slow bone loss.

In addition to oxidative damage, it appears that bone loss can also be caused by inflammation. A 2019 literature review found evidence that polyphenol-containing foods like fruits, vegetables, tea, and soy may combat osteoporosis by reducing inflammation, thus allowing the body’s bone remodeling process to proceed without hindrance.

A 2023 study out of Korea also found concrete evidence for the link between high polyphenol intake and protection from osteoporosis. Researchers gave bone density tests and food intake questionnaires to 4,600 women and followed up with them for an average of five years. They found that the postmenopausal women who reported eating the most phytochemical-rich foods (i.e., those high in polyphenols) had a 16% lower risk of developing osteoporosis than those who ate the least.

Polyphenols and Brain Health

One of your body’s most important functions goes by the strange name autophagy, which literally means “eating oneself.” Instead of visualizing someone chomping on their own arm, however, think of your tissues constantly absorbing and discarding malfunctioning cells, proteins, and other bits and bobs that are no longer doing their jobs. This process in the brain is key in protecting you from neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, MS, ALS, Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s, and other types of dementia.

Research shows that polyphenols support the brain’s clean-up process by removing misfolded proteins. They also reduce brain inflammation and stress, helping protect the brain from damage that can lead to neurodegenerative conditions.

Polyphenols are especially suited to supporting your cognitive health for several reasons. First, unlike many other nutrients, they can easily pass into your brain from your bloodstream (crossing that very finicky blood-brain barrier). Second, they help to remove harmful substances known as reactive oxygen species that can damage your brain cells. Third, they can capture and neutralize certain metal ions, such as copper and iron, that could be harmful to your brain in high concentrations.

But wait — there’s more! Polyphenols have another special brain ability: They can increase the amount of neurotrophic factors in your brain that promote the health and growth of your nerve cells. By attaching themselves to the receptors of these neurotrophic factors on the surface of nerve cells, polyphenols enhance the cells’ abilities to adapt, survive, multiply, and grow. It appears, in fact, that polyphenols can not only protect your brain from degeneration but may even support learning, memory, and other cognitive abilities.

Is There an RDA for Polyphenols?

Given how awesome polyphenols are, you might think that government bodies tasked with setting nutritional standards would have come up with a recommended daily allowance (RDA). But no such standard exists in the US because the compounds aren’t considered “essential” nutrients — that is, there aren’t any diseases specifically caused by a deficit, the way insufficient vitamin C leads to scurvy and not enough B1 inevitably produces beriberi.

Instead, not getting enough polyphenols can shorten a lifespan by making a person more likely to develop one of the chronic diseases mentioned above. For example, a 2013 study found that people who consumed more than 650 milligrams of polyphenols per day had a 30% lower chance of dying in any given year compared with people who got less than 500 milligrams per day.

So instead of a numerical RDA, the quasi-governmental Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine recommends five fruits and/or vegetables a day, which theoretically would give you a significant amount of polyphenols. And if you “eat the rainbow” pretty much every day — that is, consume foods of many different colors (and no, Skittles don’t count) — you’ll also therefore get a wide range of polyphenols.

What Foods Are Rich in Polyphenols?

What Influences Polyphenol Amounts?

Unfortunately, you can’t simply look up a food’s polyphenol content in an online database and know exactly how much you’ll get when you eat that food. And even if you could, there are various factors that can influence how much you actually absorb.

Polyphenol Bioavailability

On the whole, polyphenols tend to have low bioavailability, which means your body can absorb and use only a small percentage of what you swallow.

The exact conversion ratio is based on many factors, including the health and makeup of your gut microflora. Since your microbiome can change on a constant basis, depending on what you feed it, how much of the polyphenols in your food you can actually get into your cells may also vary widely from day to day.

Also, the different polyphenols differ greatly in how bioavailable they are. The most abundant dietary polyphenols typically have lower absorption rates than less common ones.

Food Handling Impact

How plant-based foods are processed, stored, and cooked also strongly influences their polyphenol content.

If you remove the peels and hulls of certain foods, you can lower their polyphenol content. On the other hand, macerating (such as in a blender or food processor) some foods can increase their polyphenol content.

When it comes to food storage, the cold storage of apples, pears, and onions appears to maintain high polyphenol levels. But when cut fruits turn brown, which tends to happen if they are exposed to air, they begin to lose polyphenols.

Many foods lose polyphenol levels with time. For example, in wheat flour, concentrations of polyphenols drop by about 70% after six months. But black tea actually increases its polyphenol content after some oxidation.

Some polyphenol levels also increase with cooking, while others decrease — it depends on the food, the particular polyphenolic compound, and the cooking method. For example, onions and tomatoes lose between 75% and 80% of their initial quercetin content after boiling for 15 min, and 65% after cooking in a microwave oven.

So Should You Take Polyphenol Supplements?

A limited amount of research has indicated that people may possibly see benefits from polyphenol supplements. For example, athletes who were experiencing physiological stress were given polyphenol supplements, and they experienced some benefits in performance and recovery.

But the evidence is a bit murky: Many researchers don’t use pure polyphenols or mixtures, but add in other antioxidants — so it’s hard to know how much of the benefit is coming from the polyphenols, the other active ingredients, or some synergistic interaction of multiple elements.

There’s also not a lot of safety data available about these supplements. And as polyphenol marketing gives these compounds their place in the sun, some manufacturers are taking advantage of their popularity to create mega-dose formulations that have never been tested for safety or efficacy.

Because research on the benefits of polyphenols typically uses amounts much higher than those commonly found in human diets, we just don’t know the levels at which they are safe and beneficial for human consumption.

Some supplements (including those containing polyphenols) could cause liver damage in high doses, and may also block the absorption of nonheme iron, which is an essential nutrient.

Perhaps the best argument against supplementation is that it’s probably completely unnecessary for most people, as polyphenols are abundantly available in a wide variety of fresh and healthful foods.

Plus, just like every other plant-based antioxidant and phytonutrient, polyphenols work better in harmony with other nutrients that naturally occur in food. And when you consume whole plant-based foods, you also get the benefit of fiber and other health-promoting micronutrients.

In general, most people are better off getting their nutrition from food rather than from supplements, and there’s no reason to think that polyphenols are an exception.

Polyphenol Recipes

From bitter to salty, from sweet to tart, polyphenols are in abundance in many of your favorite plant-based foods. These delicious and nourishing polyphenol recipes are a great way to experiment with and incorporate them into your daily meal routine.

1. Banana Tahini Coffee Smoothie

Coffee is a plentiful source of polyphenols as it contains chlorogenic acids, which fight free radicals and prevent oxidative stress damage, making it a potent antioxidant-rich ingredient. Not only does it give you a burst of energy — you get a powerful health boost, too! Together with creamy banana, nutty tahini, nutrient-rich cauliflower, and sweet spices, this Banana Tahini Coffee Smoothie is an easy-peasy and ultra-creamy way to enjoy polyphenols.

2. Apple Walnut Sage Dressing

Apples have an abundance of polyphenols, more specifically anthocyanins, flavanols (catechins), flavonols (quercetin, rutin), chlorogenic and caffeic acids, and dihydrochalcones, which can help to reduce inflammation, support your immune system, and even help with seasonal allergies! We don’t think you’ll need any more convincing, but this creamy Apple Walnut Sage Dressing is an inflammation-fighting, health-promoting, and deliciously sweet and savory sauce that is the perfect polyphenol-rich addition to your favorite summer or fall salad.

3. The Shine Brightly Salad

We love The Shine Brightly Salad for many reasons. And the addition of sweet and juicy blueberries is a major factor! Blueberries are loaded with anthocyanins, resveratrol, and flavonols (quercetin), which are all under the umbrella of polyphenols. You’ll also get a hefty dose of health-promoting spinach, red onion, sunflower seeds, and lemon juice. With so many colorful plant foods combined, you know you’ll be getting a wide variety of phytochemicals, antioxidants, and other polyphenols that will keep your body in tip-top shape — and shining brightly from the inside out!

Eat More Plants to Reap the Benefits of Polyphenols

From fending off cancer and heart disease to supporting healthy blood sugar levels and bone density, polyphenols are like real superheroes of our dietary choices, working tirelessly to safeguard our well-being. These compounds are readily available in a wide array of whole foods.

While some individuals may find benefit from polyphenol supplements, on the whole, the safety and efficacy of high-dose polyphenol supplements remain unclear. So it’s probably best to get your polyphenols from food. And let your plate be a canvas of color and flavor, celebrating the goodness that polyphenols have to offer.

Tell us in the comments:

• What are your favorite foods from each color of the rainbow?
• Are there polyphenol-rich foods that you’d like to add to your diet?
• Which recipe will you try next?

Featured Image: iStock.com/Aiselin82

Read Next:

• What Are Antioxidants? And What Are the Most Antioxidant-Rich Foods?
• Quercetin: Health Benefits, Risks, and Sources Compared

The post Polyphenols: Nature’s Prescription for a Healthier You appeared first on Food Revolution Network.

Prices for copper rose in the 1970s largely due to the electronics revolution. Copper is a great conductor of electricity. So as the need for wiring and components increased, global demand did, too.

Copper’s properties also make it not just valuable but indispensable for human health. It doesn’t get the same press as other minerals, such as calcium and iron. But it serves many crucial functions in the body.

In this article, we’ll explore why copper is necessary for bodily functions ranging from immune support to antiaging properties to brain protection. We’ll discuss the potential risks of not getting enough copper, and whether that’s a concern (especially for plant-based eaters), as well as the very real dangers of getting too much copper.

What Is Copper?

Copper is an essential trace mineral found in every tissue of your body. Like other minerals, your body doesn’t make its own; you need to get it from food. But compared to many other essential minerals, you don’t need a lot for optimal functioning.

Copper is a very busy do-gooder in your body, lending a hand all over the place. It’s a cofactor (a nonprotein molecule that supports a biochemical reaction) for several enzymes known as cuproenzymes (“kupros” is Greek for copper, so named because the island of Cyprus was famous for its rich copper deposits). These enzymes are involved in the production of energy, neurological signaling, and the making of connective tissue.

Copper helps your body form collagen and assists in iron absorption. It also acts as an antioxidant. The main defense against oxidative stress actually involves copper-based compounds called superoxide dismutases (SODs for short). SODs help convert superoxide radicals into less harmful molecules like oxygen and hydrogen peroxide.

Copper is also involved in the formation of new blood vessels. Plus, it helps balance various neurohormones, regulates gene expression, supports brain development, influences skin pigmentation, and maintains the functioning of the immune system. That’s one busy mineral!

How the Right Amount of Copper Benefits Your Health

Copper is essential for many bodily processes but harmful in both deficiency and excess. (Or as Goldilocks might say, “Not too little and not too much, but just right.”) Maintaining appropriate copper levels is important for overall well-being. And it’s particularly important for the health and functioning of your brain, bones and joints, heart, arteries, skin, and immune system.

Let’s look at some of the ways that researchers study copper in regard to health.

Copper and Heart Health

Proteins containing copper are essential for protecting your cardiovascular system from stroke and the damage it can cause. When the body doesn’t manage copper levels properly, it can lead to heart problems, including enlargement, heart failure, coronary artery disease, and a type of heart disease related to diabetes.

But for most people, too much copper is a more likely problem than not getting enough. A 2015 study compared copper levels in 334 people, some of whom had healthy arterial function and some with varying degrees of atherosclerosis (arterial hardening and blockages). Researchers found higher blood levels of copper in the patients with atherosclerosis. And the more severe the condition, the higher the levels of copper.

Because of the study design, we can’t say whether the high copper levels caused the atherosclerosis or if it was the other way around. (Or, for that matter, if both stem from something else.)

Copper and Brain Health

The right amount of copper is also necessary for brain development and function. Diseases that affect brain copper levels, such as Menkes disease (not enough copper) and Wilson disease (too much copper), affect the functioning of neurotransmitters called catecholamines. They play a role in various brain functions, such as regulating mood, motivation, attention, and stress response. And they’re involved in transmitting signals between neurons and can affect cognition and behavior.

Elevated copper levels may also play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Studies have shown high levels of copper can affect the functioning of neurons in important areas of the brain, such as the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. This can lead to problems with memory, critical thinking, and motor skills.

Researchers have also discovered a connection between copper and the formation of amyloid beta plaques, which are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. As copper levels increase, it can speed up the formation of these plaques, contributing to further damage in the brain.

Copper and Bone Health

Too much or too little copper is also a problem for your bones and joints. Copper compounds are important cofactors for an enzyme that makes bone matrix (basically, the stuff that makes up your bones). And nearly two-thirds of the copper in your body is stored in muscles and bones.

In 2014, researchers looked at 50 adults who had severe tooth wear (that means their teeth were worn down, not that their teeth wore high-necked cardigans and ankle-length skirts). They found lower copper levels in their tooth enamel, as well as lower bone mineral density in the spine, which is a predictor of osteoporosis.

A 2018 study measured copper levels in participants’ blood and also looked at several aspects of bone health, including bone mineral density and whether they had fractured any bones. Researchers found that people with lower levels of copper had lower bone mineral density in certain areas of the hip compared to those with slightly higher levels of copper.

They also found that those with very high levels of copper in their blood had a higher risk of experiencing fractures compared to those with slightly lower levels. So again, copper adheres to the Goldilocks principle.

Copper and Skin Health

It’s time to introduce you to a very special substance in your blood: glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine. That’s a mouthful, so we’ll follow the scientists in calling it GHK.

GHK levels are highest when you’re young, around 20 years old, but decrease as you get older. By the time you’re 60 years old, the levels drop significantly.

GHK has a special attraction to copper, and when they come together, they form something called GHK-Cu. GHK-Cu can help rejuvenate your skin by promoting the growth of new skin cells and speeding up the healing process. It has powerful antioxidant properties, which means it helps protect your skin from the sun and other oxidative damage. And it can also reduce inflammation in the skin, which can help prevent and smooth out wrinkles.

Did you know your skin can absorb copper? Studies show that there’s a low risk of adverse reactions from skin absorption of copper. And several placebo-controlled clinical trials have shown that sleeping on pillowcases impregnated with copper oxide can actually reduce the depth of facial wrinkles and improve overall skin health.

A 2020 study took small skin grafts and exposed them to these fabrics. The researchers found that they continuously released copper ions that were absorbed through the skin, which increased the production of some skin proteins, stabilized the dermal layer, and reduced aging and damage.

Copper and the Immune System

Copper is also required for the formation and activity of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell that’s a key component of the immune system. Their main role is to defend the body against infections caused by bacteria and fungi.

But there’s a downside to copper’s ability to support immunity: There’s an association between excess copper levels and increased immunity of cancerous tumors to treatment. So how difficult is it to get the right amount of copper for good health?

How Much Copper Do You Need?

Since copper is a trace nutrient, only a small amount is necessary daily. And only a small amount is stored in the body. Whereas iron or calcium requirements are in milligrams per day (mg/day), copper needs are in micrograms per day (mcg/day). A microgram is one-millionth of a gram, which is a very, very tiny amount indeed.

The following are the United State’s RDAs (Recommended Daily Allowances) for copper at different stages of life.

So those are the recommended minimum levels. What about maximums? Officially, the upper limit of copper for adults is 10,000 mcg per day. But it may also be the case that the official maximum levels should be lower. As many scientists are fond of saying, “More research is needed.”

Dietary Copper Sources

Copper is in a variety of foods. And the foods highest in copper are animal-derived products such as organ meats, oysters and other seafood, poultry, and red meat. Meat products are the only foods that will put you anywhere near the upper limit of 10,000 mcg per day. For example, three ounces of pan-seared beef liver has over 12,000 mcg of copper.

But you don’t have to eat animal products to meet your RDA of copper. Many plant-based foods are good sources of copper, too.

Here are some of the top plant-based sources of copper:

Copper Deficiency

If clinical copper deficiency is present, symptoms can include anemia (not enough red blood cells and/or not enough hemoglobin in the blood), bone and connective tissue abnormalities, and neurological problems.

But since so many foods contain copper, deficiency is generally less about intake and more frequently due to intestinal problems (such as Celiac disease) or genetic conditions. Maintaining adequate copper levels in the body is mostly dependent on absorption from the intestines. As a result, copper deficiency is relatively uncommon among the general population.

Your body also has the ability to modulate its copper absorption rate based on availability. It generally increases the absorption rate if your diet contains less copper.

However, copper levels are not typically assessed in routine testing as there isn’t a reliable biomarker for copper status. Blood levels of copper and ceruloplasmin (CP) concentrations are sometimes used in people with a known deficiency (such as with Menkes disease). But factors such as infection, pregnancy, and even some cancers can affect the accuracy of these levels.

Zinc Supplementation and Copper

However, there’s a cause of copper deficiency that is in your control and has been seen more frequently since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic: zinc supplementation. Zinc was one of many dietary supplements recommended during the height of the pandemic as a means to bolster immune defense.

While zinc can help prevent and fight infections, there is the issue of too much of a good thing. Excessive zinc intake (more than 50 mg a day) has been shown to interfere with the body’s absorption of available copper. As a result, copper levels in the body can drop to dangerous levels and cause symptoms of deficiency.

High doses of vitamin C (over 1,500 mg a day) or supplemental iron may also induce copper deficiency by competing with copper for absorption in the intestine. This is one reason to be cautious about taking large amounts of supplements on an ongoing basis.

Copper Toxicity

There are also a few ways to have dangerously high levels of copper in your body. That condition is most frequently associated with Wilson disease, a rare inborn error of metabolism that starts by overloading the liver with copper, and then moves on to the brain and other tissues.

People can also get acute copper poisoning from drinking beverages stored in copper-containing containers, as well as from contaminated water supplies. The US Environmental Protection Agency has set upper limits on copper in drinking water at 1.3 milligrams per liter, while the World Health Organization is okay with the slightly more lenient 2 milligrams per liter.

Copper can enter your drinking water through corroded copper pipes, so if you live in an old house or have well water, you may want to get your water tested.

Excessive amounts of copper can cause abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea in the short term. Long-term copper overexposure can cause liver damage and kidney failure.

You can also get copper poisoning by cooking food, especially acidic food like tomato sauce, in uncoated copper cookware. (Many chefs love this cookware because copper is an excellent conductor of heat.) The good news is, most copper cookware is lined with a nonreactive metal, such as nickel, tin, or stainless steel. As long as you take care of the lining by cleaning it with nonabrasive materials, and stop using it if the lining starts to crack or flake, copper cookware can be perfectly safe.

Toxicity from Copper Supplementation

Another cause of copper toxicity is taking copper-containing supplements. Some of the most commonly found multivitamins contain copper. And some even contain over double the RDA for copper. But copper supplementation is not generally recommended.

Health care professionals like Dr. Neal Barnard actually advise against the inclusion of both iron and copper in multivitamins. Too much of either can negatively impact brain health, possibly even contributing to the development of neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. One 2022 study based on the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) cohort found that “Copper intake from supplements was associated with greater 20-year decline in global cognition overall.”

However, the amount of copper in multivitamins and other supplements isn’t the only reason there’s a risk of toxicity. It’s also because the average copper intake among US adults already exceeds the recommended amounts. With so many foods providing an abundance of copper, especially animal products that are commonly consumed as part of the modern industrialized diet, there’s no need for added copper supplementation.

In fact, getting copper from animal products may be just as bad or even worse than getting it from supplements. That same 2022 study found that dietary copper, especially when consumed with saturated fat, increased the risk of incident dementia. And since plant-based foods have lower copper bioavailability and saturated fat, there’s no known neurodegenerative effects (and less risk of copper toxicity).

Copper-Rich (But Not Copper-Excessive) Plant-Based Recipes

Goldilocks would be happy with these tasty (and simple to prepare) plant-based recipes. From savory breakfast wraps to naturally sweet chocolate chip muffins, meeting your copper needs (without risking exceeding them) on a plant-based diet can be easy (and delicious)!

1. Tofu Scramble Breakfast Wrap

Tofu Scramble Breakfast Wrap is a delicious morning meal that not only satisfies your taste buds but also prioritizes your nutritional well-being. You’ll get your daily copper needs met from the tofu, spinach, and avocado in this wrap. Plus, you also get the added benefits of fiber, plant-based protein, healthy fats, and plenty of other essential nutrients. This wrap is a hearty and savory way to start your day the plant-based way!

2. Green Goodness Sandwich

Green Goodness Sandwich practically overflows with fresh, colorful, and nutrient-rich veggies. The green veggies — leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, and avocados — are all great sources of plant-based copper. And this sandwich is also piled high with other colors (which means lots of phytochemicals!) — from red tomatoes to purple onion to orange turmeric to white seeds. This nourishing meal is bursting with so much wholesome goodness, you may want to add it to your regular recipe rotation.

3. Banana Chocolate Chip Millet Muffins

Dark chocolate and millet are the copper-rich, plant-based stars of these Banana Chocolate Chip Millet Muffins. Whether you enjoy the muffins as a wholesome breakfast or an afternoon pick-me-up, you can take pleasure in knowing that you’re getting the nutrients your body needs. Indulge in the delightful flavor and nutritional benefits of Banana Chocolate Chip Millet Muffins — because a little copper can go a long way toward a healthier you!

Getting the Right Amount of Copper is Key

Although it doesn’t get the same attention as many other nutrients, copper is essential to health and vitality. It works as an antioxidant — combatting oxidative stress throughout your body. And it has research-backed benefits for your heart, brain, bones, skin, and immune system.

But too much copper can be a problem, and this may be more of a concern for people who eat large amounts of animal products that are especially high in it, take supplements with copper, or whose drinking water is contaminated with copper from pipes. The good news is that it seems most people who eat a plant-based diet will do just fine with their copper consumption. And that should please Goldilocks very much.

Tell us in the comments:

• Penny for your thoughts! What did you find surprising about copper and nutrition in this article?

• What’s your favorite copper-containing plant-based food?

• Which recipe will you try next?

Featured Image: iStock.com/ratmaner

Read Next:

• Zinc: Benefits, Risks, & How Much You Need

The post Dietary Copper: How Much Copper Should You Get and the Best Sources of Copper appeared first on Food Revolution Network.

Have you noticed a lot of CBD talk in recent years? Or that you can suddenly find it almost everywhere? Well, that’s because, in 2018, the Farm Bill legalized the regulated production of hemp in the United States. When this bill was signed into law, it granted hemp manufacturers the right to mass-produce, sell, and transport hemp and hemp products — and for you to be able to possess and use it.

There was, however, one catch.

Hemp is the same plant species as marijuana, which contains the psychoactive cannabinoid known as delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). And so, if hemp producers want to be within the legality of the Farm Bill, their products need to contain less than 0.3% THC.

This bill has had major implications for the natural health world. See, while THC produces the “high” associated with marijuana, there are loads of other cannabinoids within hemp that have been shown to be highly beneficial for human health without causing any psychoactive effects.

The 2018 Farm Bill — along with other more recent legislation — has opened up a whole new area of research into these cannabinoids. Previously, it was difficult to study beneficial cannabinoids due to the restrictions on hemp. So studies were few and far between. But now, scientists are finding out what some had suspected about certain cannabinoids all along — they appear to have extraordinary benefits for human health.

While there are numerous beneficial cannabinoids, in this blog, I want to talk specifically about one that has the most scientific research behind it: cannabidiol (CBD).

Not sure what CBD is — or why you should care about it? Well, keep reading! I’ll go over how CBD interacts with your body to support good health, its legality, types of CBD, and the best ways to take it.

CBD and the Endocannabinoid System (ECS)

Most people don’t realize that their bodies actually create cannabinoids on their own, contributing to a system within the body made up of molecules and receptors. Discovered only in 1988, researchers call this system the endocannabinoid system, or ECS for short.

With cannabinoids, along with their receptors, the ECS helps maintain a certain balance — or homeostasis — within the body, regulating functions related to pain, memory, appetite, and sleep, among others.

When a disruption in ECS homeostasis occurs, it’s known as an endocannabinoid deficiency. This is a situation where the body does not have enough naturally-made cannabinoids to attach to cannabinoid receptors. A deficiency in cannabinoids can throw the body out of balance and cause mismanagement of the ECS’s important functions.

However, a nonpsychoactive compound found within the hemp plant, CBD, can interact with the cannabinoid receptors within your body in astonishing ways. If you’re low in cannabinoids, think of CBD as supplementing these important compounds — enabling your body to find balance once again.

Plus, not only is CBD considered a multipurpose cannabinoid that can interact with many different receptors, it may increase the lifespan and amount of your body’s endocannabinoids, allowing your body to use more of what it’s already naturally producing.

By helping the ECS and supporting various other mechanisms throughout the body, (which you’ll learn about below), CBD may contribute to some remarkable health benefits.

So, without further ado, let’s learn about how this potent natural compound might be able to support your health!

1. CBD Sleep Benefits

If you have sleep issues, or if you just occasionally find yourself having a difficult time falling and staying asleep, consider adding CBD to your nightly regimen. There’s scientific research to back up the use of CBD as a support for relaxing and getting quality sleep.

When we’re stressed, our bodies produce a hormone called cortisol. Dubbed “the stress hormone,” cortisol can negatively impact sleeping patterns. But according to research, CBD could help regulate cortisol levels, helping us to relax.

In fact, a large case series from 2019 found that CBD use improved sleep in participants by nearly 67% after just one month.

And a 2023 systematic review of 34 studies showed that CBD alone (or in tandem with certain forms of THC) might improve symptoms of insomnia.

2. CBD and Joint Health

CBD has also been shown to help ease achy joints and promote a healthy inflammatory response. This is particularly important if you have a condition that causes discomfort within your joints.

For one thing, CBD has been shown to potentially increase the levels of anandamide in our bodies — a neurotransmitter associated with reducing pain perception and improving mood. And a 2021 study found that while CBD isolate oil didn’t reduce the volume of pain, it did make pain less bothersome.

And CBD doesn’t just make things feel better — it can also make them get better by helping manage the body’s response to inflammation. Research shows that CBD may reduce the levels of pro-inflammatory cells in the body while increasing the levels and effectiveness of crucial immune cells.

CBD has also been found to target the areas of the joints suffering from chronic inflammation in people with rheumatoid arthritis, potentially providing relief from uncomfortable symptoms.

And if all of that wasn’t enough, CBD might also help strengthen joint tissue. An analysis of CBD joint studies concluded that there is sufficient evidence that CBD may be able to both reduce cartilage degradation and facilitate cartilage repair.

3. CBD Brain Benefits

Cannabinoid receptors are dispersed throughout many brain regions and are responsible for regulating numerous aspects of activity within your brain.

As such, ongoing research is showing that CBD may have neuroprotective properties, specifically against cognitive decline and certain conditions and disorders of the brain.

One of the main factors in cognitive decline has to do with oxidative stress and inflammation. These states cause damage to neurons, inhibiting proper brain function. But CBD has been shown to offer potentially protective effects in the brain by reducing these factors.

A review from 2021 showed that CBD might be able to both repair and replace neurons, supporting cognition and brain health.

4. CBD and Mental Health

One of the causes of anxiety and depression is certain chemical reactions in the brain. It turns out that CBD may be able to reduce these symptoms by regulating chemicals in the brain.

For example, CBD has been shown to potentially help increase levels of what’s been dubbed the “bliss molecule” — a neurotransmitter called anandamide.

Researchers believe that a deficiency in endocannabinoids such as anandamide can lead to depression, migraines, and other conditions of the brain and nervous system. They also theorize that endocannabinoids like anandamide might offer protection against conditions like anxiety and depression.

It’s also thought that anandamide could help better regulate the body’s stress response.

And there’s another neurotransmitter CBD can influence — serotonin, a chemical that controls mood and makes you feel happy. Low levels of serotonin are linked to depression, anxiety, and mania associated with bipolar disorder. Though CBD isn’t thought to necessarily increase serotonin levels, it appears to change how your body uses the serotonin it does have, activating it and allowing it to better bind to serotonin receptors.

5. CBD and PMS

Chances are that you either know someone who gets menstrual cramps or you get them yourself. These types of cramps are quite common, with approximately 75% of menstruating people experiencing cramps during their periods.

Because of its natural ability to potentially alleviate discomfort and help manage the body’s inflammatory response, CBD is becoming increasingly popular to help relieve menstrual cramps.

A recent review of studies found CBD could be helpful in providing relief for many of the symptoms involved with PMS. Additionally, some researchers theorize that the main cause of menstrual pain — along with many other PMS symptoms — has to do with inflammation. CBD’s ability to affect the body’s inflammatory response is well documented. As such, it may help provide PMS relief by managing inflammation.

6. CBD and Hair Growth

While research is limited in this area, there are some interesting findings that show CBD intake might be able to contribute to increased hair growth.

Once again, it comes back to the ECS. Certain cannabinoid receptors have been found to be key players in hair follicle growth. As such, CBD may be able to help regulate the health of hair follicles.

Additionally, it may help regulate hormones which are often involved in hair loss conditions.

More research is needed, but it stands to reason that CBD might be helpful.

Is CBD Actually Legal?

Okay, so now you may be thinking, these benefits sound great — but I’m still worried about the legality of CBD.

Maybe a coworker told you that CBD isn’t legal everywhere, or you read somewhere that the lines are a bit blurry when it comes to what’s allowed and what isn’t. After all, you don’t want to get in trouble with the law, even if the health results from CBD are promising.

So, is CBD fully legal in the United States — or whatever country you live in?

Well, the fact of the matter is that it depends on where you live. In the US, as in many other countries around the world, there are both federal and state regulations on CBD use, as well as all other forms of the plant that CBD is extracted from — and they don’t always agree with one another. So it’s important to familiarize yourself with local as well as national laws concerning CBD.

Why is the issue of CBD legality complicated? It comes down to both how CBD is grown and extracted.

THC Levels and CBD Legality

CBD comes from a plant species called Cannabis sativa. Plants in this family include cannabis and hemp, which most people consider “sister plants.” The main difference between the two is that cannabis contains more THC — the cannabinoid responsible for the “high” feeling people get from marijuana — and hemp contains more CBD. Even so, some legislators worry that even hemp-derived CBD contains the illegal compound THC. This is why the 2018 Farm Bill clarified that hemp is only legal to produce if it contains less than 0.3% THC.

Essentially, CBD is legal in every state in the US, as well as Washington, DC. But many states have conditions.

While there are a number of states that have zero restrictions on CBD, just as many have certain conditions that need to be met if you want to purchase and use CBD. The main stipulation is that the THC level within the hemp plant the CBD was derived from needs to be at a certain percentage. Following the federal guideline, most are set at 0.03%. But some states allow zero traces of THC whatsoever.

Other states allow up to 0.05% THC, but you’ll need a medical license. And some don’t care about the percentage as long as the CBD is derived from hemp. Other states, like Mississippi, are a bit stricter and require you not just to have a medical license but to obtain CBD only from the University of Mississippi.

So, as you can see, it’s hard to say just yes or no to the question of whether CBD is legal within the United States. And other countries have their own rules and regulations, too.

CBD Types

So if you are able to obtain CBD legally, how do you know what kind to take?

There are many different methods that companies use to isolate and extract CBD and a range of ingredients they choose to add or leave in their products. In addition, there are also different blends that leave or take out flavonoids and cannabinoids. Some even completely isolate CBD on its own.

There are three main kinds of CBD products: CBD isolate, full-spectrum CBD, and broad-spectrum CBD.

CBD Isolate

CBD isolate is just that — pure CBD by itself without any other cannabinoids in the mix. Some people prefer it because it lacks any THC whatsoever. However, isolating CBD from all other cannabinoids requires the most lab processing of the three categories.

Isolate has similar health benefits to full- and broad-spectrum CBD, but lacks the so-called “entourage effect” that occurs with the presence of multiple endocannabinoids and related compounds.

Full-Spectrum CBD

Full-spectrum blends tend to increase in positive effects as the dosage is increased. However, while full-spectrum CBD must contain less than 0.3% THC, it may include trace amounts of THC, the active cannabinoid in marijuana products. Even though the amount of THC found in full-spectrum blends is generally too low to create a “high,” it does have the potential to show up as a positive on drug tests.

For some people, this is a deal-breaker. As we’ve seen, not all states allow CBD with THC above a certain level, or they require a medical card. And some people are also extremely sensitive to THC’s effects and don’t find it to be a positive experience even in tiny amounts.

Broad-Spectrum CBD

Finally, we come to broad-spectrum CBD blends. Broad-spectrum CBD means that all or some of the cannabinoids in the plant are extracted for the blend, minus THC.

My favorite broad-spectrum CBD products are processed in a way that retains all of the cannabinoids’ active properties. And there are quite a few cannabinoids besides CBD and THC (none of which are psychoactive, of course).

Another great thing about broad-spectrum CBD is it is less costly on average than full-spectrum products because the THC is left out. And it’s less heavily processed than CBD isolate.

What Type of CBD Is Best?

Ultimately, it depends on the person. Everyone’s bodies interact with CBD products differently. You may want to try out a few and choose the product that works best for you.

Are There Any Downsides to CBD?

As of the date of this article’s publication, the FDA “has not approved a marketing application for cannabis for the treatment of any disease or condition.” But a few cannabis-derived drugs have been approved.

However, since CBD (as with many supplements) is not regulated by the FDA in anything like the manner that pharmaceuticals are regulated, you may want to research the company and its production methods before purchasing. Some companies cut corners and use treatment and extraction processes that damage the purity and quality of their products, rendering them less effective than they could be — or worse, completely ineffective!

They could also contain unwanted contaminants such as pesticides, bacteria, and heavy metals. According to a report published by the CBD resource site Leafreport, 25% of the 136 brands they looked at did not conduct purity testing for their CBD products.

CBD can also potentially interact with certain medications, including anticonvulsants, sedative drugs, herbal supplements, and narcotics. Side effects can also sometimes occur, especially in high doses, and may include diarrhea, fatigue, vomiting, and drowsiness. I recommend consulting a medical professional before beginning a regular CBD regimen.

How Much CBD Should You Take?

While up to 1,500mg per day of CBD is seen as the tolerable upper limit for consumption, recommended amounts are usually much less.

Various factors may influence dosage amount, including body weight, the condition being treated, type of CBD, and sensitivity. When starting CBD, you’ll likely want to begin with a low dosage, which you can gradually increase as necessary. It may take some time and experimentation to find the right amount, as well as the right type of CBD product for you.

In the book CBD: A Patient’s Guide to Medicinal Cannabis by Leonard Leinow and Juliana Birnbaum, they break CBD dosage down into three categories: micro, standard, and macro.

• Microdose: 0.5mg–20mg of CBD per day
• Standard dose: 10mg–100mg of CBD per day
• Macrodose: between 50mg–800mg of CBD per day

Determining your dosage will also depend on the method you choose to take CBD, so let’s take a look at the types of CBD products that are available.

How to Take CBD

Now that we’ve covered the ins and outs of CBD, including its potential health benefits, you may be wondering how to take it.

There are many different CBD products, and the way in which they’re taken can affect the benefits you get, how quickly it works, and more. Determining what’s best for you may take a bit of experimentation. But as you’ll see, some are more reliable than others if you’re looking to get the maximum benefits out of your CBD usage.

CBD Edibles

CBD through edibles is a fun and easy way to consume the compound. You can do this through gummies, sweets, and even mints. Some food and beverage companies also make CBD-infused products.

Though easy to consume, there are some downsides. Some gummies may be made with gelatin, which could come from factory-farmed animals, and food and beverage products may also include natural and artificial flavorings and sweeteners.

Eating CBD also subjects the compound to something called the “first pass effect.” During this process, CBD is broken down by the liver and digestive tract. As a result, it can take several hours for the CBD to take effect, and you’ll likely only absorb 20–30% of it.

CBD Topicals

CBD topicals are meant to be applied directly to the skin. These can include lotions, creams, balms, ointments, and transdermal patches. This can be a great option for treating skin conditions or inflammation over specific areas of the body.

One study done on rats found that topical CBD greatly reduced joint swelling in the applied area, giving promise to those with arthritis.

However, skin can be hard for these compounds to penetrate. If you do go this route, it’s probably best to use a generous amount of a topical product that has a high concentration of CBD.

Vaping or Smoking CBD

You can smoke CBD in a joint, much like marijuana, use a vaporizer that has CBD oil in a cartridge, or inhale CBD concentrates using a vape pen.

With this method, the CBD hits your bloodstream much faster, and you will likely feel the effects rather quickly. Even then, only about 34–56% of the CBD will be absorbed.

However, taking CBD in this way, as with other smoke products, can also potentially expose you to harmful carcinogens. And research is still underway on the lasting effects of vaping. Based on a growing body of concern about the health effects of smoking and vaping, it seems that it may well be best to avoid this method.

CBD Tincture Oil

This is one of the simplest ways to take CBD. With CBD tinctures or sprays, you drop or squirt the CBD oil into your mouth and swallow. Like other herbal products delivered in this manner, you’ll want to hold the CBD beneath your tongue for a few moments, as the CBD can penetrate the thin tissue if allowed to linger.

CBD oil is a great way to get pure, high-quality CBD in a way that doesn’t have any risks like smoking or vaping.

However, because of its poor solubility, CBD taken this way isn’t absorbed very well, with some reports showing only a 13–19% absorption rate.

Liposomal CBD

Liposomes are membranous, fluid-filled sacs that can help in the delivery of cellular products. They occur naturally in the body, but may also be created synthetically. They’ve been shown to be extremely effective in delivering everything from vitamins to pharmaceuticals safely throughout the body.

Liposomal CBD facilitates survival in the acidic environment of the stomach and absorbs through the intestinal wall.

One study compared liposomal CBD with non-liposomal CBD. They gave the first group of participants standard, orally-administered non-liposomal CBD oil and the second group orally-administered liposomal CBD oil.

After one hour, the non-liposomal group only had 6 out of 15 participants showing CBD in the blood, while the entire liposomal group showed CBD in their blood.

On top of that, CBD levels were significantly higher in the liposomal group. The highest concentration of CBD detected at one hour was 5.9 ng/mL in the liposomal CBD group compared to a mere 1.3 ng/mL in the non-liposomal group. That’s nearly five times as much!

CBD Is a Promising Substance for Your Health

As you can see, CBD has a number of useful applications for your health, especially if you’re somebody already struggling with an issue like insomnia or joint pain, or are worried about cognitive decline.

Because there are different types, methods of consumption, and dosages, you may have to experiment a bit in finding what’s right for you. And it may be wise to work with a health care provider to avoid side effects and any potential medication interactions.

I don’t know about you, but with the increasing availability of CBD and research on its potential uses, I’m excited to see how it continues to help people with a variety of medical conditions.

Even though more research is clearly needed before we know all the pros, cons, and long-term effects of the different forms of CBD, many people are concluding that they’ve seen enough to want to give CBD a try and see how it works in their bodies.

Tell us in the comments:

• Have you heard of CBD or tried it yourself?
• Have you seen results with specific CBD products?
• What other questions do you have about CBD consumption?

Featured Image: iStock.com/ArtistGNDphotography

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The post Is CBD Good For You? CBD Health Benefits, Varieties, & Best Practices appeared first on Food Revolution Network.

And then there’s Tom Brady, the recently (twice) retired quarterback widely regarded as the best to ever play the game, with seven Super Bowl wins to his credit. Brady’s latest retirement came at the age of 45 — 23 full seasons after getting chased, hit, and slammed to the turf by the world’s most scary 6’3”, 310-pound opponents.

In addition to genetic explanations, or just plain luck, there’s a third (and most likely) possibility as to how Brady pulled this off. Since 2004, Brady has been eating an entirely whole-food diet that’s largely plant-based, which has allowed him to maintain muscle mass and recover quickly from injuries.

So what’s the connection between diet and muscle health? What about Brady’s diet, in particular, contributed to his health and career longevity? And also, if you’re not a professional athlete, why should you care about building and maintaining muscle mass as you go through life?

Let’s “tackle” that last question first.

Why Building Muscle Is Important for Good Health

Strong muscles are important for everyone, even if you’re not an athlete, bodybuilder, or your family’s designated jar opener. Being strong allows you to support your body in various situations and positions, and allows you to perform essential movements like lifting, gripping, bending, and pulling.

Stronger muscles produce stronger bones and joints, which can help prevent injury, as well as stave off degenerative bone diseases like osteoporosis. But increasing muscle mass and strength can also prevent chronic diseases that are seemingly unrelated to your ability to do bicep curls and squats.

Stronger muscles aid your metabolism, which makes sense if you think about the fact that one of the main functions of metabolism is to get fuel to those muscles. One 2013 study found that bigger, stronger muscles actually combated insulin resistance and prevented the development of type 2 diabetes in mice. (Our view on the use of animals in medical research is here.)

The need to maintain muscle mass becomes more critical as you age because muscle loss occurs naturally with aging. As much as it pains me to write this, muscles start deteriorating in your 30s. Between ages 40 and 60, most people lose an average of 8% of their muscle mass every decade. After 60, the loss typically accelerates at an even faster rate.

Let’s drive home the seriousness of muscle loss by using its scary medical name: sarcopenia (from the Greek sarco, meaning flesh, and penia, meaning poverty). Studies show that sarcopenia comes with many health consequences: People get diseases sooner, move less easily, and can die earlier.

Muscle strength and mass are even associated with a lower risk of cognitive decline and dementia. So leg day may actually turn out to be brain day.

So what are some of the best ways to build muscle?

How Do You Build Muscle?

I know this is Food Revolution Network, but I’ve got to start by telling you that you probably can’t build much muscle in the kitchen (unless you’re lifting weights in there, or have the world’s heaviest cast iron pans). The best way to grow your muscles (here’s another scienc-y word — hypertrophy — to describe that phenomenon) is through exercise. And, in particular, the kind of exercise known as resistance training.

Resistance training is any physical activity that causes the muscles to work against some opposing force (like a weight). There are two main varieties: isometric and isotonic. Isometric exercises keep joints still, while the muscle group strains against the resistance. Examples of isometric exercises include planks, wall sits, held yoga poses, and so on. In other words, your muscles are working, or you collapse downward (because that’s where gravity wants you).

Isotonic exercises involve moving muscle groups against some resistance. Examples include push-ups, sit-ups, and lifting weights.

You can combine isometric and isotonic training by, for example, resting at the top of a push-up before going down again, or holding a squat near the bottom for a few seconds before straightening your legs.

Do You Have to Use Heavy Weights?

Many people believe that for weight training to effectively build strength and mass, you need to lift heavy weights. Hence the oft-repeated (though misleading) saying: “No pain, no gain.” But in one recent study, people in their middle age, who opted for lifting lighter weights, gained as much strength and muscle growth as those who favored significantly heavier weights. These findings challenge the prevailing notions in the fitness community, which often advocate that only substantial weights can yield effective results.

As well, there is another groundbreaking research study, which stands as the most comprehensive meta-analytical review on resistance training to date. Remarkably, it found that there isn’t a singular superior way to lift weights. It didn’t matter whether people engaged in routines featuring heavy or light weights, nor if they engaged in frequent or infrequent sessions and sets. Everyone experienced marked enhancements in muscular strength and mass – regardless of their age or gender — if they put in the time. These findings highlight the universal efficacy of resistance training in sculpting a stronger, more muscular physique for anyone committed to the process.

Unfortunately for the couch potatoes of the world, however, just thinking about the gym or buying a gym membership or even walking in the front door and buying a smoothie, doesn’t help all by itself. You have to actually use the weights.

How Hypertrophy Works

Let’s get back to that term hypertrophy (which, remember, is the fancy word for muscle growth and not a high-strung, gold-plated figure on a pedestal) and examine what has to happen biochemically for it to occur.

To put it simply, resistance training grows muscle cells first by damaging them and allowing them to recover, and then repairing them. When you use muscles beyond their current capacity, they respond by sustaining “micro-tears” (rhymes with bears, not fears — perhaps because they aren’t actually crying, although sometimes it might feel that way). Then during recovery, your body repairs these tears with combinations of proteins and hormones to help them grow back bigger and stronger.

This is known as adaptation; it’s like your muscles are going, “Wowza, that load was uncomfortably heavy. We’d better grow stronger just in case an even bigger challenge comes along next week.” And the key trigger of adaptation is volume: the total weight lifted during a given exercise. The higher your volume, all other things being equal, the more hypertrophy, and the stronger and bigger your muscles become.

Load also matters. There’s evidence that fewer repetitions of heavier weights cause more micro-tears and leads to greater hypertrophy — although experts caution that this shouldn’t be your only style of workout.

Frequency is also important. Working your muscles on a regular basis, and changing up the specific exercises, enhances muscular adaptation and thereby facilitates them growing stronger.

Diet and Muscle Growth

Caption: Vanessa Espinoza, Vegan Athlete, Personal Trainer, and Nutrition Coach

So resistance training is the first step in building muscles. But as we’ve just seen, muscles don’t get built when we lift weights or hold planks. Rather, that’s where they get torn down.

Muscles rebuild and grow during recovery, with a basic recipe of rest plus nutrition. The food you eat gets turned into the proteins and hormones that grow your muscles and lead to adaptation, as well as the energy required to fuel the process and to allow you to repeat workouts again and again.

Food has a lot of different jobs to do when it comes to building muscle. And one of the most important is to provide amino acids to replace the ones damaged during exercise. The macronutrient source of amino acids is our pal protein. That’s why athletes need lots of protein.

But while protein is necessary, there are many other nutrients that also contribute to muscle growth. And too much of the “wrong” kind of protein can actually damage your health and reduce your longevity.

The Role of Protein in Building Muscle

When you consume foods that contain protein, you digest them into their component amino acids, which your body uses as the building blocks for various tissues, enzymes, and hormones that keep you going. In the context of resistance training, protein is necessary for muscle building and repair to occur after exercises are complete. And eating protein shortly after exercising has been shown to support muscle synthesis — although researchers disagree on both the optimal amount of protein and the timing window that leads to the best results.

On the other hand, eating too much protein (or more than your body needs) can lead to a variety of health issues, potentially shortening your life.

Excess protein is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and stroke, as your body lacks a mechanism for storing protein (unlike carbohydrates, which get stored as glycogen, and fats, which get stored as fat). So if you consume more protein than your body can use, it either gets broken down for energy or converted into fat — and both processes can be hard on your body.

The majority of people eating the modern industrialized diet are already eating too much protein. And many of them are doing so based on the erroneous belief that if some protein is good, then more must be better. To calculate how much protein you really need, follow the steps in this comprehensive article on plant-based protein.

Why Animal Protein May Not Be the Best for Your Health

The source of your protein matters as well. The ill effects of excess protein are almost exclusively found in people over-consuming animal protein. While there’s a common misconception that animal protein is nutritionally superior to plant protein, and that people — especially athletes — who eat a plant-based diet probably aren’t getting enough protein, that myth has been comprehensively debunked.

Not only does a diet rich in plant protein provide adequate amounts of all of the essential amino acids, it also protects the body from too much insulin-like growth factor 1. IGF-1, as it’s known by its friends, is a hormone produced from protein that helps control the growth and development of organs, muscles, and tissues in the body.

IGF-1 is crucial for your body’s development when you’re young, and plays a role in hypertrophy as well, but too much of it can negatively affect your health. High IGF-1 levels are associated with increased cancer risk, for example. And animal protein, but not plant protein, spikes IGF-1 levels in your body.

B Vitamins and Muscles

Protein isn’t the only important nutrient when it comes to muscle building and athletic performance. B vitamins also play a role. Your body needs them to convert proteins and sugars into energy, as well as for synthesizing and repairing the red blood cells that carry oxygen to the rebuilding muscles.

Two vitamins in the B family, folate (B9) and vitamin B12, are critical cofactors in energy production and in the rebuilding and repair of muscle tissue damaged by physical activity. Folate, in particular, has been associated with muscle strength in large-scale population studies. And there’s an association between niacin (a form of vitamin B3) and vitamin B6 intake and physical strength in older people.  And vitamin B12 helps regulate levels of homocysteine, a by-product of protein metabolism.

Carbs and Muscle Growth

When it comes to getting swole (or maintaining muscle mass), we can’t forget about carbohydrates. They’re the principal energy source that we use to move, so we need them to fuel our workouts. Carbs also stimulate insulin production, a powerful anabolic hormone (meaning that it stimulates growth, including that of muscles).

And if your workouts involve endurance activities, dietary carbohydrates can support and enhance your performance, since they’re your muscles’ preferred energy source during moderate- to high-intensity activity.

This is why many endurance athletes engage in the practice of “carb loading” prior to the start of their event.

Fat and Muscle Growth

You also need to consume some healthy fats to support muscle growth. These include monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, and omega-3 fatty acids, which also promote the production of muscle-building hormones. Compared to the saturated fat in animal products, polyunsaturated fats are more likely to promote gains in lean muscle mass as opposed to being stored as fat.

A Supplement to Consider: Creatine Monohydrate

Many weightlifters and bodybuilders supplement with creatine monohydrate to aid muscle growth. And unlike some other supposed performance-enhancing supplements sold at the gym (or in shady online infomercials), there’s actually plenty of evidence to support its effectiveness.

A 2022 meta-analysis of 16 randomized controlled trials of creatine monohydrate supplementation and muscle gain found that people — especially those who were young and healthy — who trained hard achieved greater muscle growth than those who trained similarly but did not supplement.

You might be thinking, but hold on a minute! There are other substances that grow muscles but come with some nasty and potentially life-shortening side effects — for example, anabolic steroids. They’re notorious for helping perfectly talented mortals to win epically long bicycle races and break home run records while increasing their odds of premature heart attacks and strokes, liver disease, kidney failure, and psychiatric imbalances.

Is creatine another “Faustian bargain,” helping to grow muscles today at the expense of health tomorrow?

In a word, no. Current research not only finds no dangers but actually supports taking creatine to improve, of all things, cognition and brain health. And the gains are particularly impressive in vegetarians, who, by virtue of avoiding meat, typically have less creatine in their diets and their tissues.

In 2003, researchers published a study showing improvement in both memory and intelligence tests in vegetarians who consumed five grams of creatine a day for six weeks. And a 2011 study found that vegetarians who supplemented with 20 grams of creatine monohydrate for just 5 days improved their memories compared with those taking a placebo.

Both Exercise and a Healthy Diet Will Help You Gain Muscle

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Caption: Torre Washington, Vegan Competitive Bodybuilder & Fitness Coach

To summarize so far: Weight-bearing exercise by itself won’t build muscle unless supported by your diet. Diet alone can’t build muscle unless you’re also stressing your muscles through resistance training. But when you combine the right kind, frequency, and intensity of exercise with a healthy diet, you can build and maintain muscle mass throughout your life.

There are dozens of professional plant-based athletes who prove that both muscle mass and performance aren’t hindered by not including animal products. In addition to Tom Brady and a bunch of Tennessee Titans in the NFL, there have been Olympic weightlifters (Kendrick Farris), tennis greats (Venus Williams), basketball players (Chris Paul), soccer stars (Alex Morgan), and Olympic cyclists (Dotsie Bausch).

Even the most famous bodybuilder of all time, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has “terminated” the meat-heavy diet of his professional lifting days in favor of a mostly plant-based diet. The actor who delivered the iconic put-down “You hit like a vegetarian” in the 2013 movie Escape Plan has more recently been promoting a plant-based diet, especially for bodybuilders and other athletes in the second half of life.

And closer to home, I work out regularly with my dad, John Robbins, who is now 76 and still stronger than me (and I’m no weakling, thank you very much). One of my life goals, in addition to bringing about a food revolution of healthy, ethical, and sustainable food for all, is to bench press more weight than my dad before he hits 100!

Best Plant-Based Foods to Build Muscle

So let’s get to the details. What are some of the best foods to help preserve and even increase your muscle mass and strength?

1. Legumes

Both beans and lentils are good sources of plant-based protein and complex carbohydrates, as well as providing dietary folate.

For more on beans and how to use them, see our article here.

For more on lentils and how to add them to your diet, see our article here.

2. Tempeh

Tempeh, a fermented soybean cake that originated in Indonesian cuisine, delivers plant-based protein and a variety of B vitamins, with the added bonus that the fermentation it’s undergone may help make its nutrients more bioavailable.

For much more about tempeh, see our article here.

3. Nuts and Seeds

Nuts and seeds are high in protein and healthy fats, as well as folate and vitamin B6.

Here’s a comprehensive article on nuts and your health.

And if you’d like to find out about making your own nut and seed butters, this article has got you covered.

4. Quinoa

Quinoa, a pseudocereal originally cultivated in the Andes region of South America, is a gluten-free whole grain with a nutty, creamy taste. It’s high in protein, including all nine of the essential amino acids, and provides complex carbohydrates as well.

For more on quinoa (including how to pronounce it), check out our article here.

5. Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes can’t be beat for the delicious way they deliver long-acting complex carbohydrates, as well as vitamins B3, B5, and B6.

For everything you didn’t realize you wanted to know about sweet potatoes and your health, here’s an article dedicated to these terrific tubers.

6. Oats

Oats provide a ready source of glucose to muscles while still being low glycemic (i.e., not spiking blood sugar), in addition to biotin (B7), vitamin B1, and protein. A 2020 study found that oatmeal eaten before a high-intensity workout actually blocked the formation of some of the inflammatory compounds that typically form after such exercise.

Find out more about the health benefits and environmental considerations of oats.

Muscle-Building Recipes

You probably don’t need fancy (and expensive) formulas to enhance your athletic performance. All you need is a healthy, energizing, and muscle-enhancing diet to support your fitness goals. From hearty plant-based proteins to energizing and B vitamin-rich greens to fiber-rich carbohydrates, these nutrient-dense recipes make a great template for a performance-enhancing meal plan and are a delicious way to enjoy the key nutrients required to thrive on a plant-based diet.

1. Simple Homemade Granola

Simple Homemade Granola is an easy-to-prepare breakfast cereal or midday snack that fits right into a healthy diet for peak performance. This lightly sweetened crunch-fest offers plenty of fiber, healthy fat, and plant protein that results in a delicious, wholesome recipe to make again and again. Plus, the combination of fiber-rich oats and protein-packed nuts and seeds makes it a highly nutritious way to support muscle recovery and growth!

2. Plant Protein-Powered Salad

Boasting 20 grams of plant protein per serving, our Plant Protein-Powered Salad contains healthy fats, fiber, and a spectrum of phytonutrients. This salad is a great example of how you can optimize nutrition for muscle growth while meeting your protein needs with ease. What’s more, this salad is nourishing and satisfying!

3. Tempeh Sausage Pasta

Tempeh Sausage Pasta hits all the right notes for a wholesome meal that has tons of flavor and nutritional value. Tempeh is a hearty plant protein that takes on any flavor you add to it. In this case, savory herbs and spices transform tempeh into meaty sausage crumbles. The result is a healthy and delicious meat substitute that gets even better with the addition of red tomato sauce and pasta. Essentially, this is an all-in-one meal with high-quality plant-based protein, fiber-rich carbohydrates, and vitamin-rich veg that makes eating for muscle building simple and delicious!

4. Hearty and Healing Lentil Burgers

Hearty and Healing Lentil Burgers do double duty. They’re hearty and savory enough to leave you feeling satisfied and nourishing enough to support your fitness goals. Plus, there are plenty of B vitamins, iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and lots of plant protein and beneficial fiber in every delectable bite. This is a perfect meal to pile high with even more nutritious veggie toppings to take its nutrient quotient to the next level.

5. Peanut Butter Smoothie for Weight Gain

Creamy peanut butter pairs surprisingly well with leafy greens in this nutrition-maximizing blender creation. In addition to spinach and peanut butter, the banana and dates ensure that it’s naturally sweet and delicious. Plus, this is a great post-training liquid meal thanks to healthy servings of protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats, which work together to help replenish your body and keep you feeling energized!

Building Muscle on a Plant-Based Diet Is Possible!

Building muscle is necessary for strength and important for overall health. And it becomes especially important with age. To build muscle, you need a combination of both exercise and nutrition.

Protein, as well as B vitamins, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats, all contribute to muscle mass and strength. Whole foods, plant-based sources of these nutrients can help your body to meet its needs while bringing down inflammation. And unlike foods of animal origin, plant-based foods can help protect you from chronic diseases.

By including some of these foods and recipes, along with getting in resistance training and other forms of strength training exercise, you can build and maintain muscle while laying the groundwork for a long and strong life.

Tell us in the comments:

• Are you an athlete, or do you work out regularly?

• Now that you’ve read this article, do you understand how to build muscle on a plant-based diet?

• What’s your favorite post-workout meal?

Featured Image: iStock.com/Hispanolistic

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The post Building Muscle on a Plant-Based Diet: The Best Foods & Nutrients to Eat appeared first on Food Revolution Network.

Even some restaurants serve bone broth now. Believe it or not, there’s a bone broth to-go chain in New York City. A quick Google search will show that bone broth products are now marketed for dogs and cats as well.

But what’s the truth about bone broth? Is it the miraculous tonic it’s touted to be? And are there any bone broth side effects or other concerns to consider?

What Is Bone Broth?

First things first. Bone broth is not the same as regular chicken broth, beef broth, or other animal broth. It’s actually closer to a stock. Bone broth is made by boiling the roasted bones, and sometimes connective tissue, of animals for a prolonged period of time. It’s often made in a slow cooker or other “set it and forget it” appliances. The long cooking time is mainly what separates it from regular types of broth.

The cooking time of bone broth — ranging from eight to over 24 hours — is intended to draw vitamins, minerals, and collagen out of the bones and into the broth. The latter is why these types of broths and stocks have a more gelatinous consistency than a typical broth.

Acids like apple cider vinegar, red wine, or tomato paste are also sometimes added to break down the beef bones (or pig, turkey, or fish bones) and extract nutrients. The liquid is then strained, the solid parts discarded, and the remaining broth seasoned. Often vegetables, such as carrots, onions, and celery, are also included.

The broth is typically sold in liquid form, but some packaged brands have also dehydrated it into a powder for “bone broth on-the-go.”

Why Is Bone Broth So Popular?

The concept of bone broth isn’t new. Many cultures, including our Stone Age ancestors, made broths from animal bones thousands of years ago. But its current popularity is linked in no small part to extensive marketing efforts as well as to promotion from health influencers.

Bone broth advocates say it can relieve joint pain and osteoarthritis, detoxify the liver, aid in wound healing, slow the aging of skin, support digestive health, balance hormones, increase energy, strengthen bones, improve quality of sleep, alleviate symptoms from certain autoimmune conditions, and even boost immune function.

As a result, bone broth is also now providing (not insignificant) profits to celebrities, food businesses, and health gurus who are cashing in on the craze. There’s even a Bone Broth Diet created by Dr. Kellyann Petrucci, a health influencer and naturopathic doctor.

Retail sales of bone broth products increased from $17.54 million in 2017 to $68.78 million in 2023. And according to a market research study, the global bone broth market is expected to continue rising for the foreseeable future.

So, What Does the Research Say About Potential Bone Broth Health Benefits?

Interest in bone broth continues to increase because of the long list of benefits it’s said to provide. But what does the science actually say? Does it measure up to the health claims?

Claim #1: Bone Broth is a Nutritional Gold Mine

Bone broth nutrition is one of its biggest selling points. Allegedly, this type of broth is a low-calorie, high-protein food that provides significant minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium.

The earliest study to mention bone broth is from 1937, which looked at the nutritional value of both animal-based and vegetable broths. The researchers concluded that while neither was a very good source of nutrition, the broths found to provide the highest mineral content were the ones that contained the most vegetables.

Far more recently, in 2021, a study in the journal Medicina analyzed bone broth and found that it was not an especially good source of essential minerals, especially in comparison to recommended daily intakes.

While marketers tout animal broths for their mineral content, it’s the vegetables generally used in the cooking process — not the bones — that may actually be providing many of these helpful nutrients.

An average cup of bone broth contains 0–19 mg of calcium and 6–9 grams of protein. That may be all well and good, but this protein content is not terribly impressive when compared to some other sources of these nutrients.

• 1 cup cooked collard greens = 268 mg calcium
• 1 cup navy beans (boiled) = 126 mg calcium
• 1 bunch cooked broccoli raab = 515 mg calcium
• 1 cup baked beans = 14 grams protein
• 1 cup cooked quinoa = 8 grams protein
• 3 Tbsp of hemp seeds = 10 grams protein

Bone broth also doesn’t include the fiber that comes along with whole, plant-based sources of protein.

So yes, bone broth does provide some calcium, protein, and other nutrients. But so do many, many other whole foods.

A cup of cooked collards contains at least ten times as much calcium as a cup of bone broth. And a cup of baked beans contains nearly twice as much protein. But in fact, most Americans may be getting too much protein (at least from animal sources), anyway.

Claim #2: Bone Broth Will Strengthen Bones, Relieve Achy Joints, and Keep Skin Youthful

Collagen is the main protein in your body. It protects your organs, joints, and tendons; holds together bones and muscles; and maintains the lining of your gut. Your body makes its own collagen, but as you age, you won’t make quite as much of it.

Bone broth is high in collagen, and many people believe this is one of its major selling points.

Unfortunately, there is no evidence that eating collagen, whether in broth or otherwise, is directly helpful to your body. Many experts agree that because your body doesn’t absorb collagen in its whole form, the idea that eating collagen helps your body increase collagen levels just isn’t true. Your body breaks collagen down into amino acids. So, in the end, it’s just another form of protein.

You’ve probably seen collagen supplements sold for skin, nail, and hair health. Some research suggests that collagen supplements may potentially help to reduce visible signs of aging, relieve joint pain, and prevent bone loss. But the collagen in supplements is hydrolyzed, or broken down to make it more usable for the body. The collagen in bone broth is not hydrolyzed and does not have the same effects on the body.

If you want to help your body build collagen, the best way is to eat a diet rich in leafy green vegetables because plants offer rich sources of the phytonutrients your body needs to make collagen.

These phytonutrients in plants include:

• The vitamin C found in citrus fruits, dark leafy greens, bell peppers, kiwi, berries, and broccoli. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that can help protect your skin, inside and out.

• The vitamin E found in sunflower seeds, almonds, wheat germ, spinach, and broccoli. Vitamin E works with vitamin C to promote collagen synthesis.

• The vitamin A found in carrots, sweet potatoes, winter squash, dark leafy greens, cantaloupe, and apricots. Vitamin A helps regulate antioxidant responses that can affect your skin’s ability to fight free radicals.

• The amino acids glycine, proline, and lysine — found, among other places, in dark leafy green vegetables, soy, nuts, seeds, and legumes. These amino acids play an important role in collagen formation.

• The sulfur-containing foods, such as garlic, onion, and members of the cabbage family, may also promote collagen production.

The bottom line is bone broth does contain collagen, but it doesn’t necessarily support collagen formation. But vegetables and other plant foods can be powerful allies in keeping your skin young, your bones strong, and your joints healthy.

For more on collagen and how to increase your body’s production of it, see our article here.

Claim #3: Bone Broth Is Good for Your Immune System

At some point in your life, you might have eaten a bowl of chicken soup when you were sick — and it might have even helped you feel better.

And in fact, a 2000 study in the journal Chest found that chicken soup could prevent white blood cells from migrating — thus preventing the worsening of upper respiratory infection symptoms.

But the researchers conjectured that the vegetables in chicken soup — not the chicken alone — might offer helpful effects when it comes to battling infections.

Would vegetable soup have been just as effective? Or more effective? We don’t know. But it seems clear that the vegetables, at a minimum, played an important part.

Warm beverages, in general, may be helpful when battling a cold because they provide hydration and help regulate body temperature. But there’s no evidence that bone broth has unique immunity superpowers. And to date, I’m not aware of any published studies about bone broth and viral illness in peer-reviewed medical journals.

Claim #4: Bone Broth Is Good for Gut Health

Bone broth is said to be good for digestion and potentially therapeutic for leaky gut syndrome — a condition in which substances can leak from your intestines into other tissue, causing inflammation.

There is a lot of gelatin in bone broth. And some research done on rats (our view on the use of animals in medical research is here) indicates that gelatin could bind water in the digestive tract and protect the lining of the intestines. There’s also some rodent research that found that the amino acids in bone broth could have anti-inflammatory effects, which might help with gut conditions like ulcerative colitis. But while both of these studies show potential in rats, it doesn’t mean bone broth can do the same for humans.

We have a very different intestinal lining than rats. It’s possible that it could help. But at this point, all we have is a theory.

What’s not a theory, because it’s been well documented, is that you can support your gut health with a variety of fiber-rich plant foods. Plant-based foods, including fermented foods, help to maintain a healthy gut microbiome by providing prebiotics, probiotics, and the lesser-known postbiotics.

For more ways to support digestive health with food, see this article.

Claim #5: Bone Broth Can Help You Lose Weight

Mark Wahlberg and other celebrities have touted bone broth as a means to lose weight. When getting in shape for the movie Spenser Confidential, Wahlberg told Entertainment Tonight he ate “just bone broth and then steamed vegetables after the first three days and then a little bit of protein at night, and that was it.”

While he did end up losing weight, it’s likely because he was engaging in intermittent fasting and a reduction in calories rather than anything in the bone broth directly contributing to his weight loss. Intermittent fasting may help fat-burning hormones in the body work more efficiently. But bone broth is not a magical weight loss pill.

Sure, you may also lose weight if you’re replacing your daily drink of soda with bone broth. Soda averages 150 calories per can, while one eight-ounce cup of bone broth averages 29 calories. But then again, you could also just drink tea or water, which deliver essentially zero calories.

And if you’re looking for a low-calorie way to get some protein, you could also just opt to add protein powder to water or vegetable broth.

But if you want to lose weight long-term, a fiber-rich and nutrient-dense plant-based diet is probably the healthiest and most sustainable way to go.

For more on what works best for weight loss, see our article here.

Claim #6: Bone Broth Can Detoxify Your Liver

Proponents of bone broth like to assert that it contains the amino acid glycine, which aids in detoxification processes in your body. There are a few studies that suggest glycine treatments can benefit nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in either humans or rats, but none look at the impact of bone broth specifically on human livers.

Since glycine is a conditionally essential amino acid that can be synthesized from other amino acids like choline and hydroxyproline, and your liver detoxifies itself, it seems unlikely that bone broth would have much effect on liver detoxification processes. The best way to protect your liver is to avoid weight gain, steer clear of excessive alcohol consumption, and eat a diet that’s high in the wide array of phytonutrients found in whole plant foods.

It’s also helpful to steer clear of toxic heavy metals in the first place. And that brings us to the potential downsides and side effects of bone broth.

Problems with Bone Broth

Aside from the questionable health benefits of bone breath, there are also some specific downsides to consider.

Lead in Bone Broth

One of the most widely discussed downsides to consuming bone broth is the potential for lead exposure.

Lead can have adverse effects on nearly every organ system in the body. Symptoms of chronic lead exposure range from memory loss and constipation to impotence and depression. And the data suggests that there is no such thing as a “safe” level of exposure to lead.

Lead can build up in body fat and attach itself irreversibly to neurons. It’s especially dangerous for children, increasing the risk of behavioral problems, hyperactivity, impaired growth and hearing, anemia, and lower IQ, even at low levels.

Now, here’s the thing: Lead and other heavy metals build up in the bones. And that’s not just true of human bones.

Boiling animal bones for a long period of time turns out to be a great way to leach lead out of them. And that’s true even if the animal bones come from organically fed animals.

In a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Medical Hypotheses, researchers looked at broth made from chicken bones and found that the broth had lead concentrations that were up to a tenfold increase compared to the water before the bones were added to it. The samples were made from organic, free-range chickens.

Today, many health enthusiasts are drinking bone broth by the case, hoping to detoxify their livers of heavy metals. Sadly, they could actually be doing the reverse, inadvertently exposing themselves to dangerous levels of lead and possibly other heavy metals.

Bone Broth Histamine Levels

Histamines are natural chemicals released by the immune system that play a key role in your body’s inflammatory response. While allergic reactions to food or external allergens can cause a release of histamines in the body, some foods are also naturally high in histamines.

Because bone broth cooks for a long time, it is one of those foods that contain high levels of histamine. While this may not prove to be a problem for most people, those who have histamine intolerance may react poorly to bone broth.

Symptoms of histamine intolerance include:

• Headaches
• Anxiety
• Gastrointestinal symptoms like nausea, bloating, and diarrhea
• Nasal congestion and sneezing
• Asthma

Sodium in Bone Broth

While you may not encounter this as much with home-cooked bone broth, store-bought bone broth products are often very high in sodium — and can have a poor potassium-to-sodium ratio. The ideal ratio is around 2:1 in favor of potassium. But some bone broths may have a ratio of up to 10:1 in favor of sodium.

High sodium intake, especially when not balanced by even higher potassium intake, can cause or exacerbate a slew of health issues, including high blood pressure, kidney disease, and type 2 diabetes. And the sad truth is that most people eating a modern industrialized diet already get too much sodium and not enough potassium. People suffering from these health conditions or who take medications that contain high sodium levels may experience adverse health effects from commercial bone broths.

Ethical Concerns with Bone Broth

There’s also the ethical side of bone broth to consider.

Many, if not most, bone broth brands use the bones of animals raised in factory farms. These animals may have never seen the sun or a blade of grass in their lives — and were likely subject to a wholly inhumane death. They were also probably given routine doses of hormones and antibiotics — an alarming practice that is fueling the development of antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

Even if the animals sourced for their bones were raised organically or free-range, the fact is, the modern animal agriculture industry is something of an environmental disaster. The cattle industry, in particular, is a major drain on resources, responsible for deforestation in some of the most biodiverse areas on Earth, and emitting greenhouse gasses at rates higher than the three biggest gas companies on the planet.

Personally — those aren’t practices that I want to support. And they don’t create products that I want to take into my body, either.

What Are Some Healthy Alternatives to Bone Broth?

If you’re interested in trying the broth trend for yourself and you want some warm nourishment for your tummy but your favorite flavor isn’t “bone,” there are many other options.

Some people are creating vegetarian and vegan broths, using mixtures of seaweed, mushrooms, miso, and various vegetables instead of bones.

Plant-based broths offer a lot of flavor and nutrients. Mushrooms contain selenium, B vitamins, iron, and zinc. Seaweed contains iodine, which is an essential nutrient for healthy thyroid function. And fermented foods, like miso paste, or anti-inflammatory agents, like ginger or turmeric, are often added as well.

These three recipes for plant-based broths just might hit the spot, especially if you are looking for new and tasty ways to infuse rich flavor and nutrients into your dishes. Each of these recipes offers exciting flavor diversity by using customizable combinations of vegetables and herbs (we even have tips on how to make these recipes zero-waste!).

Plus, if you prepare these broth recipes in an InstantPot, the flavor of the broth becomes even more concentrated.

And, of course, no animals are harmed in the making of your homemade nutritious and delicious vegan broths!

1. Homemade Vegetable Bouillon

Homemade Vegetable Bouillon is where the real magic happens. Not only does it pack a punch of phytonutrients and fiber (something bone broth can only dream of), but it’s also a delightful source of calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, B6, and potassium. Seriously, this bouillon has got it all! This flavor-packed concoction takes the broth nutrition game to a whole new level.

2. Savory Mushroom Broth

Prepare to meet one of the superheroes of the vegetable world: mushrooms! These mighty powerhouses have earned their superfood title (just like the other veggies in this recipe). With their incredible antioxidant content, abundance of B vitamins (plus a dose of vitamin D if they soak up some sun while growing), and a treasure trove of minerals like selenium, potassium, and copper, mushrooms truly pack a nutritional punch.

But wait, there’s more! They even come equipped with two dietary fiber champions — beta-glucans and chitin — which work wonders for your gut health.

Now, imagine all these incredible nutrients infused into a heavenly Savory Mushroom Broth. It’s not just rich in flavor; it’s a broth that brings you a supercharged dose of health benefits. Get ready to sip on superfood goodness!

3. Umami Vegan Dashi

Traditionally, dashi is a seaweed stock bursting with savory, salty, and umami flavors. Drawing inspiration from this beloved Japanese classic, we’ve crafted an ultra-nourishing, plant-based version that’s brimming with minerals. Our secret ingredients? Green onions, shiitake mushrooms, and seaweed.

Let’s dive into the wonders of seaweed, particularly kombu. Not only is it a concentrated source of iodine, but it also delivers a healthy dose of vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, calcium, and other trace minerals. We’re not done yet! Kombu also boasts an enzyme called glutamic acid, which works wonders for digestion (especially for those with sensitive tummies!). Combine all these goodness-packed elements with miso paste, mushrooms, and green onions, and you’ve got yourself a delightful dashi that not only tantalizes your taste buds but also provides soothing support to your gut health and immune system.

It’s time to savor the nourishing embrace of this flavorful stock!

Bone Broth Is No Cure-All

The next time you hear bone broth touted as a magical cure-all, remember this: The science behind most of the claims about bone broth is murky at best. But the science behind the health benefits of vegetables is massive, coherent, and compelling.

Bone broth doesn’t appear to contain anything special that you can’t find in plant-based foods. And it’s not necessarily good for you. It may even have adverse effects on your health and the environment.

You’re likely better off choosing nutrient-dense, fiber-rich plant foods — whether eaten whole or in a broth.

Tell us in the comments:

• What do you think about bone broth?

• Have you made vegetable broths — and if so, what are your favorite kinds?

• Which of these vegan broth recipes are you excited to make?

Featured Image: iStock.com/Dmytro Chernykov

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• Arsenic In Rice: How Concerned Should You Be?
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Actually, it’s PVT TIM HaLL, a mnemonic familiar to medical students cramming for their Biochemistry 101 exams. It refers to the nine essential amino acids: phenylalanine, valine, threonine, tryptophan, isoleucine, methionine, histidine, arginine, leucine, and lysine. (Sorry, no Donner or Blixen or even Rudolph.)

Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. And proteins are essential for the growth, repair, and maintenance of tissues, as well as the production of enzymes, hormones, and antibodies. So an essential amino acid — without which you can’t make many of the proteins you need to live — is a pretty big deal.

What makes these nine amino acids “essential”? There are about 20 amino acids that make up all the proteins in our bodies (“about,” because there’s some debate about whether selenocysteine and pyrrolysine count). But the essential amino acids are considered essential (also called “indispensable,” which immediately makes me want to sing “Unforgettable,” by Nat King Cole) because humans and other mammals cannot synthesize them and, therefore, must obtain them from food or supplements.

This article focuses on PVT TIM HaLL’s second L, lysine. We’ll see that lysine does a lot of very important things, including fighting viral infections, helping your body absorb calcium, and playing an important role in the formation of collagen.

But if you look up which foods contain lysine, you’ll see a menu largely composed of animal products: meat, eggs, and cheese. If you’re a plant-based eater, you might find this a cause for concern — are you in danger of missing out on this essential nutrient?

Let’s find out!

Lysine Benefits and Uses

We’ve known about the existence of lysine since 1889 when a German chemist named Edmund Drechsel isolated the amino acid by hydrolyzing casein, a protein found in milk. (“Hydrolyzing” means breaking proteins into their component parts.) And over the years, researchers have discovered more and more critical roles that it plays in our bodies.

Is Lysine an Antiviral?

Lysine does play a role in counteracting virus infection and replication. Some viruses that infect humans need another essential amino acid, arginine, to survive and reproduce. So if lysine and arginine are out of balance in favor of arginine, those viruses can gain a foothold.

Lysine and arginine compete in a number of cellular pathways. And lysine not only blocks some of the activity of arginine but also increases the production of an enzyme, arginase, that breaks down arginine and decreases its concentration in cells.

That’s why lysine is sometimes recommended to prevent the cold sores that appear on the mouth, lips, and sometimes, the genitals, of people infected with some forms of herpes simplex virus (which, according to a 2017 study, includes about 90% of all adults). But, in theory, your lysine-to-arginine ratio seems to matter more for herpes than lysine on its own.

There have been a couple dozen studies conducted on supplemental lysine and herpes sores over the past 50 years, most of which are inconclusive due to small cohorts, short duration, or self-reporting rather than clinical evaluation. But there’s a decent amount of evidence that sufficiently high doses of lysine (in some studies, 3 grams per day) could help prevent recurrence, if not shorten recovery from an existing flare-up — especially when combined with low-arginine diets.

A 2021 study out of Taiwan also found that L-lysine (an active form of the amino acid) supplementation, in conjunction with a low-arginine diet, was effective in reducing the chances of getting infected by COVID-19 and a newly emergent strain of the influenza A virus.

And a case study on an 11-year-old girl with pityriasis rosea (which may have viral origins) also showed L-lysine’s antiviral effectiveness. After four days, new eruptions ceased, and the original lesions started to regress and fade. The authors conclude that L-lysine might be a safe way to treat pityriasis rosea to reduce both its severity and duration.

Lysine and Muscle Building

Lysine may also play a role in building muscles and enabling you to maintain muscle mass as you get older. A 2014 study from Japan tested the fetal serum of various animals and found less muscle wasting when lysine was added to the serum. (Our view on the use of animals in medical research is here.)

A 2020 study out of Greece also found that the higher the blood levels of a lysine metabolite called pipecolic acid, the greater women’s muscle mass and muscle strength. And those levels tended to drop as the women aged.

Lysine and Bone Health

Getting adequate protein is important for keeping bones strong and healthy. But until recently, scientists didn’t know if there were specific amino acids that were more important than others in terms of outcomes like bone density and risk of osteoporosis.

A 2016 UK study took a clever approach to the question by observing dietary intake and bone health in identical twins. The researchers found that the twins who consumed more amino acids, including lysine, had higher bone mineral density.

A 2020 study from India also found that lysine supplementation, along with calcium and vitamin D, could improve bone health, and, therefore, overall health and physical fitness.

Lysine Skin Benefits

As a key ingredient in collagen formation, lysine is critical for healthy skin. Through a complex series of chemical reactions that made my head spin when I read about them, lysine gets turned into substances called reactive aldehydes. These aldehydes can then interact with other parts of collagen to form strong bonds between collagen molecules.

For people with osteoarthritis, it’s very important to get sufficient lysine, as well as the amino acids proline and glycine, to help regenerate cartilage damaged by the disease.

Lysine Brain Benefits

Lysine plays a role in brain health by contributing to the synthesis of neurotransmitters — chemicals that transmit signals between brain cells, allowing for proper communication within the brain. Two of the neurotransmitters most responsible for mood and motivation, serotonin and dopamine, both depend on lysine for their existence.

Lysine also enhances cognitive function and memory by participating in the formation of collagen, the same protein that makes up skin and cartilage. In the brain, collagen provides structural support to blood vessels. By maintaining the integrity of blood vessels, lysine helps ensure proper blood flow to the brain, which is vital for delivering oxygen and nutrients necessary for optimal brain function.

For more on how to build collagen naturally for benefits to your skin and your brain, see our article here.

How Much Lysine Is Recommended?

The amount of lysine to consume for optimal health depends on your age, sex, and weight. Daily lysine intake requirements range from 64 mg per kilogram of body weight for infants (who need proportionally more lysine than adults) to 30 mg per kg of body weight for adults. The recommended upper limit is 300–400 mg/kg per day.

Check out this resource for US-recommended daily allowances of the essential amino acids broken out by age and sex.

If you’re more comfortable with your weight in pounds rather than kilograms, here’s a quick formula for lysine goals in adults: Take your weight in pounds and divide by 2.2 (that will give you your weight in kilograms). Then multiply that number by 38 to get your recommended adult daily intake of lysine in milligrams.

For example: If you weigh 150 pounds, divide that by 2.2 to get your weight in kilograms: a little more than 68. Multiple 68 x 38 to get 2,584 mg or almost 2.6 grams.

And if you’re wondering about lysine recommendations for children, here’s a handy table.

Foods Rich in Lysine

While the foods with the highest concentrations of lysine tend to be animal products, there are many rich plant-based sources to choose from.

Here’s a list of some plant-based foods that can go a long way to helping you reach your daily lysine requirements.

Lysine per 100 grams:

• Pumpkin seeds — 1,386 mg
• Tofu — 883 mg
• Lentils — 630 mg
• Almonds — 568 mg
• Navy beans — 527 mg
• Quinoa — 239 mg
• Cauliflower — 217 mg

If you have an active herpes simplex infection, the folks at VegFAQs have also compiled a list of the best high-lysine, low-arginine vegan foods.

Do You Need to Combine Foods to Get Enough Lysine?

There’s a persistent myth that people who avoid animal products have to be super vigilant about combining foods to get all the amino acids at the same time, so they can make complete proteins. This has been thoroughly debunked, as scientists discovered that all plant foods contain all nine essential amino acids.

In order to ensure sufficient lysine intake, all you may need to do is get enough protein overall — no measuring of specific amino acids is necessary. That’s because some foods are higher in one particular amino acid, while others are higher in another one. If you’re eating a balanced diet with a variety of whole plant foods, you’re probably getting more than enough protein, and the amino acid ratios just tend to work out.

Your body is much better at doing these calculations than your mind, and it’s adopted the elegant strategy of maintaining pools of free amino acids that it can use to do all the complementing for you.

For an in-depth look at plant-based protein, see our article here.

What About Lysine Supplementation?

While most people can get all the lysine they need from a balanced and varied whole food, plant-based diet, a few groups may have special needs for lysine that would require supplementation. For example, burn patients may benefit from supplemental lysine as they recover. And people prone to herpes simplex cold sores may want to supplement with 500 mg a day (or even more) for prevention, especially during times of high stress. If you are dealing with an active herpes outbreak, some studies indicate that supplementing with three grams per day may be beneficial.

However, because supplements are isolated nutrients, they may not always agree with our bodies in the same way they would when consumed as food. L-lysine is the biologically active isomer of lysine used in supplements. And you can probably take up to 6,000 mg/day safely without triggering any adverse reactions. But some people may be sensitive to supplemental L-lysine and experience nausea, stomachache, or diarrhea.

Plant-Based, Lysine-Rich Recipes

As we learned, lysine is essential for our immune system and protection against viral infections in the body. Luckily these protein-rich recipes are a tasty way to ensure you’re getting plenty of lysine (and a few other immune-supporting nutrients as well) in three delicious and easy-to-prepare dishes!

1. Pumpkin Seed Pesto

Pumpkin Seed Pesto is a delicious way to boost your lysine consumption (and a few other essential amino acids) with ease. Pumpkin seeds are a real superfood and one of the top plant sources of lysine. This seedy, herby spread is also a great source of iron, magnesium, and zinc. With so many nutrient-rich ingredients that contribute to a healthy diet, this spread is sure to become a household favorite in no time!

2. Lentil Quinoa Meatballs

These Lentil Quinoa Meatballs are one of the tastiest ways to enjoy and ensure your daily lysine intake. Both lentils and quinoa are protein powerhouses, and the addition of sunflower seeds adds even more lysine. With eight grams of protein and fiber per serving, these delicious bundles of whole food goodness offer oodles of vital nutrition!

3. Chocolate Cream Dream Pie

This seemingly indulgent chocolate pie gets its creamy texture from none other than silken tofu. Not only does the tofu offer a delightfully smooth mouthfeel, but it’s also loaded with plenty of plant-based lysine (and all the other amino acids, too) for a healthy dessert that is satiating and nourishing. Whip up this chocolaty concoction for a special occasion or to punctuate the end of an equally nutrient-dense meal.

The Low-Down On Lysine

Lysine is an essential amino acid necessary for good health. It offers important health benefits, including antiviral support, muscle building, bone health, skin health, and brain function. While animal products tend to have higher concentrations of lysine, plant-based foods like pumpkin seeds, tofu, lentils, almonds, and quinoa can provide substantial amounts, too.

While lysine supplementation may be necessary for specific cases, such as burn patients and those suffering from frequent cold sores, it is generally recommended to obtain nutrients from a well-balanced diet rather than relying solely on supplements. But if you want to supplement lysine or a high-quality plant-based protein, it’s generally safe for most people (and might be beneficial for some). As always, it may be advisable to consult with a health care professional for individual dietary needs and considerations.

Tell us in the comments:

• Did you learn anything new about lysine from this article?

• What are your favorite plant-based foods that are high in lysine?

• Which high-lysine recipe will you try next?

Featured Image: iStock.com/Zerbor

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It turns out that, starting centuries ago, the English had a habit of sprinkling wood ashes on their garden beds, and seeing the plants grow faster and healthier as a result.

Over time, they learned that when they soaked wood ash in iron pots, they could create what came to be called “potash.”

Then, in 1807, a British chemist by the name of Sir Humphry Davy isolated potassium from potash. He called the result “kalium,” which is the Latin word for potassium — and the periodic table had its “K.”

Even though the English later named potassium after the potash that led to its discovery, the “K” stuck, which turned out to be a very good thing for phosphorus fans, who to this day claim the sole periodic-table rights to the letter “P.”

In this article, we’ll explore potassium’s role in the body, how much you need, and its benefits for human health. And we’ll look at the best sources of potassium, so you can make sure to include them in your diet.

What Is Potassium?

Plants require significant amounts of potassium to run critical biological functions. That’s why we often find plenty of this important, healthful mineral in fresh, plant-based foods.

In addition to being critical to the growth of healthy plants, potassium also plays a profoundly important role in the human body. It is one of several vital nutrients that make up the electrolyte family, which includes sodium, magnesium, calcium, and others. Potassium, like all electrolytes, plays an essential role in maintaining your body’s fluid balance and facilitating nerve signaling due to its exceptional capacity for ionic charge.

Potassium plays a vital role in many critical functions throughout the body, especially in the heart and kidneys.

The roles of potassium include:

• regulating fluid levels in cells
• sending nerve signals
• contracting and relaxing muscles
• limiting calcium loss through urine
• balancing the body’s sodium levels

Potassium Benefits

Given the number of essential functions of potassium, it’s no wonder it’s considered an important nutrient. But what are the specific health benefits of potassium? Here are a few reasons why it’s worthwhile to optimize your intake.

Potassium and Blood Pressure

When you eat too much sodium — usually from table salt or salty foods — your body releases more water to dilute the excess sodium in your blood. The increased fluid presses on your blood vessels, increasing the pressure, like too much water moving through a garden hose. High blood pressure is also called hypertension, and is a significant factor in the development of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and kidney disease.

But it turns out that potassium can help to mitigate some of this impact — which is good news for your heart. In fact, a 2016 study in the journal Nutrients found that higher levels of potassium lower the overall risk of hypertension. And in the Framingham Offspring Study, published in 2021, researchers concluded that higher intakes of potassium are strongly associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.

Potassium and Strokes

Potassium is increasingly understood to be significant in the management and prevention of cardiovascular disease and related incidents. A 2014 meta-analysis of more than 333,250 people and 10,659 stroke events saw a “significant association between K intake and stroke.” The more potassium people consumed, the less likely they were to suffer a stroke.

Potassium and Diabetes

According to the CDC, there were more than 1.4 million new cases of diabetes in the US in 2019. Preventing diabetes is far easier than reversing the condition, and on that front, there is hope. While low levels of potassium in the blood are correlated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, a 2016 article in Nutrients explains that increased dietary potassium may help maintain healthy blood glucose control and limit the risk of developing diabetes. And even if you’re already diagnosed with prediabetes, research shows that increased potassium can stabilize fasting glucose levels.

Potassium and Kidney Health

Potassium is also healthful for your kidneys. Not only can adequate potassium help prevent kidney stones, but it’s a powerhouse for the prevention and management of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Many patients with CKD are advised to limit their potassium in order to lower the risk of developing hyperkalemia (excessive potassium in the body). However, a 2020 meta-analysis found that a higher intake of potassium in the early stages of the disease was actually protective and slowed progression. Results are more mixed for higher potassium diets during the later stages of CKD. (Make sure to check with your health care provider before loading up with potassium if you have kidney disease.) If you’re struggling with CKD, you can learn more about the ideal foods for kidney health in our comprehensive article.

Is Potassium Good for Your Bones?

When we think of bone health, most of us don’t think first about potassium. But maybe we should! Research shows that potassium is strongly linked to higher bone mass density. And many studies tell us that positive effects on bone health are seen even with a minimum of just 2,300 mg of potassium per day, although some studies recommend aiming for a daily intake of around 4,700 mg.

How Much Potassium Do You Need?

The National Institute of Health’s recommendations for daily potassium intake are:

• Children up to 13 years have varying needs over time
• Teens 14–18: 2,300 mg for girls and 3,000 mg for boys
• Women 19+: 2,600 mg (Pregnant or lactating women: 2,600 mg – 2,800 mg)
• Men 19+: 3,400 mg

Importantly, these recommendations may not actually be enough for many people. The Food and Nutrition Board encourages adults to get 4,700 mg per day — more than twice the NIH recommendation for adult women.

Perhaps even more critically, a 2013 research review on potassium and health explains that the ratio of potassium to sodium in the diet significantly influences many health markers, even more than potassium alone. In other words, the more sodium you eat, the more potassium you need.

Potassium and Sodium Balance

Potassium and sodium are two important electrolytes that work together to achieve some fantastic things. They both help to regulate nerve function — supporting muscle contraction and heart function. And they work in tandem to maintain fluid equilibrium across cell walls. Having a healthy balance of these minerals is vital to their proper function.

Harvard Health explains that early Paleolithic people probably got about 16 times more potassium than sodium, and that the typical modern industrial diet supplies a potassium-sodium ratio of just 0.74 to 1. Meanwhile, the ideal potassium-to-sodium proportion, according to the NIH, seems to be about 2:1. So most of us are getting less than half the potassium we need, at least in relation to the sodium in our diets. And when the balance is off, problems ensue.

What Happens if Your Potassium Level Is Too Low or Too High?

Sometimes, potassium levels in the body can fall outside the ideal range, being either too high or too low. Having potassium levels that are too low is more common than levels that are too high.

Hypokalemia

Not having enough potassium in your body is called hypokalemia. Though many people who develop potassium deficiency may not have any symptoms, the effects of low potassium can be debilitating and even deadly. It’s a serious concern that can lead to muscle weakness or paralysis and abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias). Hypokalemia is also associated with increased blood pressure, kidney stones, and osteoporosis.

Despite being more common than excessive potassium levels, cases of low potassium are usually mild and are often the result of another condition or a side effect of medication.

Hyperkalemia

In contrast, potassium toxicity and the risks from too much potassium, hyperkalemia, are rare in healthy people because kidneys efficiently excrete excess potassium in the urine. However, people with certain conditions should be aware of the risks of consuming too much potassium. Mild hyperkalemia is usually asymptomatic, but high levels of potassium can cause life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, muscle weakness, or paralysis. Most cases of hospitalization for excessive potassium are due to medications and renal insufficiency.

Risk factors for potassium toxicity include:

• Kidney issues, advanced kidney disease, or kidney failure
• Prolonged NSAID-use
• Insulin deficiency
• Tissue or cellular damage

Dietary causes of hyperkalemia are very rare, particularly in people not at risk. If you’re in a high-risk group, consult with your healthcare provider to ensure you’re consuming safe potassium levels.

Where Should You Get Your Potassium?

Plants are incredibly effective at drawing minerals from the soil, including potassium which is promptly taken up by plant roots. In most conventional land practices, potassium is added to the soil as a fertilizer to help plants grow. In more traditional practices, potassium is returned to the soil when plants die or through composting or animal manure during grazing.

Potassium is found in many whole plant foods — including many of our favorite comfort foods, like potatoes! Beans and other legumes, nuts, vegetables, and fruit (including dried fruit) are also good food sources of potassium. However, dried fruits will have even higher amounts of potassium because the water has been removed and all the nutrients are concentrated (although they also have an increased sugar content for the same reason).

Here are some examples of the most potassium-rich foods. (Remember, the NIH’s recommended minimum is at least 2,600 mg per day for women, and at least 3,400 mg per day for men — and you don’t have to get it all in one place.)

Potassium foods:

• Cooked beet greens, 1 cup — 1,309 mg (more than a quarter of the optimal recommended potassium intake for a whole day!)
• Medium baked potato with skin — 926 mg
• Cooked acorn squash, 1 cup — 896 mg
• Cooked spinach, 1 cup — 839 mg
• Cooked pinto beans, 1 cup — 746 mg
• Jackfruit, 1 cup — 739 mg
• 100% prune juice, 1 cup — 707 mg
• Kiwi, 1 cup — 562 mg
• Cooked broccoli raab, 1 cup — 550 mg
• 100% orange juice, 1 cup — 496 mg
• Medium avocado — 487 mg
• Medium banana — 451 mg
• Unsweetened coconut water, 1 cup — 396 mg
• Pumpkin seeds, 1 oz — 261 mg
• Cooked lentils, 1 cup — 230 mg

This list could be pages long, in fact. Many different fruits and vegetables include potassium — even more so when they come from healthy, potassium-rich soil. These kinds of foods are also:

• Naturally abundant in some important micronutrients, like folate, vitamin C, and magnesium
• Rich in colorful phytonutrients that work as powerful antioxidants to help prevent cancer and lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, and Alzheimer’s
• Great sources of prebiotic fiber to keep your gut healthy

Potassium is also found in abundance in dairy products and in some fish, although these come with other health and ethical considerations. (For more on dairy, see our article here, and for more on fish, see our article here.)

Don’t Pass on Potassium!

Potassium is an essential mineral necessary for the vital functioning of your entire body. The research overwhelmingly shows that diets rich in whole foods, especially fruits and vegetables, significantly impact potassium levels and help lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, kidney stones, and osteoporosis. Plus, potassium helps counteract the negative consequences of excess sodium, which is one of the main dietary risk factors for high blood pressure.

Some of the best sources of potassium include leafy greens, beans, nuts, dried fruits, bananas, avocados, and starchy vegetables like potatoes and winter squash.

Tell us in the comments:

• Do you try to get more potassium in your diet? Why or why not?
• What are some naturally potassium-rich foods you enjoy?
• What are a few new high-potassium foods you could try?

Featured Image: iStock.com/yulka3ice

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Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic autoimmune disease that results in joint inflammation and subsequent cartilage degradation. An estimated one percent of the world’s population and as many as 1.3 million Americans, according to the Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Network, have RA. Patients with RA can suffer from fatigue, pain, stiffness, and impaired physical function, all of which can lead to severe disability.

However, unlike other types of arthritis, such as osteoarthritis, RA is not primarily caused by wear and tear. There are other factors at play besides age in the development of this type of arthritis, which often begins between ages 30 and 60.

With RA, the body attacks the connective tissue between joints that normally would help them move. This causes pain, swelling, and stiffness which limits movement and damages bones over time.

While RA is predominantly associated with joint tissue inflammation, as an autoimmune connective tissue disorder, RA can attack other types of connective tissue leading to complications with the lungs, heart, skin, and eyes, too.

However, like other types of autoimmune disorders and chronic diseases, more and more research is telling us that changes to your diet and the state of your gut might play an important role in your chances of developing RA, and effectively managing or reversing it if you do.

In this article, we’ll look at typical RA treatments and alternatives — and the link between rheumatoid arthritis, the gut, and what’s at the end of our forks.

What Causes Rheumatoid Arthritis?

There’s no definitive answer as to what causes autoimmune diseases like RA. However, a growing body of evidence is pointing to a few key factors.

While each situation is highly individualized, many scientists suspect the following three major factors may play a role in causing rheumatoid arthritis:

• Genetics: According to Cleveland Clinic, RA is “more common among people designated female at birth” or who have a direct family member who is affected by the disease.
• Infections: Certain microbes, like Epstein-Barr virus (infectious mononucleosis) and Proteus mirabilis (which causes some UTIs) are linked to a greater risk of RA and more problematic symptoms.
• Balance of the intestinal microbiome: Evidence from the Journal of Immunology Research shows that your gut may be the most decisive factor in RA development. An imbalance of intestinal bacteria due to lifestyle and environmental factors can be a huge driver of rheumatoid arthritis. And since you have little control over your genetics (unless, of course, you invent a time machine and try to change who your parents were — which might create a new set of problems), or over what infections you might be exposed to, this is the area we’re going to focus on the most.

The Connection Between Gut Health and Rheumatoid Arthritis

There’s a growing and exciting body of research that confirms a strong link between the health of your gut and the condition of your joints — and overall health. But this isn’t exactly a new idea. Hippocrates, the ancient Greek healer known as the father of medicine, theorized that all diseases originate in the gut. (To be fair, he also taught that the uterus wandered around the body looking for warmth, so he didn’t always bat a thousand with his conjectures.)

The digestive microbiome is responsible for helping to break down food and produce vitamins, nutrients, and hormones that you need to stay healthy. Even more incredibly, 70% of your immune system is in your gut, where it trains immune cells, fends off harmful pathogens, and regulates immune function throughout your body.

Autoimmune diseases like RA are characterized by an overreaction of the immune system. (If another metaphor would help, it’s like a smoke detector that triggers the sprinkler system every time you boil water or make toast.)

Because gut microbiota helps regulate immune system stability and function, it makes sense that immune dysfunction could stem from an impaired microbiome. In fact, a 2021 study at the Mayo Clinic’s Center for Individualized Medicine found that the health of a RA patient’s gut microbiome could predict the improvement of their arthritis over time.

Another study found an interesting link between a bacteria known as P. copri and rheumatoid arthritis. In 75% of individuals suffering from RA, this microbe was in abundance in their fecal samples. Researchers hypothesize that having too much of this bacterial strain in the gut could be one of the potential causes of RA. The research is increasingly compelling that there is a strong connection between gut microbes and disease outcomes for rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune conditions.

How Is Rheumatoid Arthritis Commonly Treated?

RA symptoms can be debilitating and lead to lower quality of life, especially during a flare-up when symptoms are at their worst. Over time, the disease can become systemic and eventually attack vital organs, causing disease complications and death.

Because of this, treatments for RA are usually aggressive. And although there is no known cure, the first line of defense often includes medications prescribed to reduce joint inflammation, relieve pain, and prevent or slow joint and tissue damage.

Common RA treatments include:

• NSAIDs
• Steroids
• Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs)
• Biologic agents

However, many drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis have potentially serious side effects, like liver and kidney damage, increased blood pressure, and even the development of type 2 diabetes, among others.

If medications fail to stop the progression of tissue damage or have to be stopped due to side effects, surgery is typically the second line of treatment and can include:

• Total joint replacement
• Tendon repair
• Joint fusion

Does just reading those descriptions make you think, “These procedures don’t sound fun at all”? If so, you’re not alone. Because the treatment options for RA are potentially dangerous and carry serious side effects, many patients turn to complementary medicine, looking for additional sources of relief and treatment options that bring fewer side effects.

Can Dietary Changes Help with Rheumatoid Arthritis?

While genetic and infection-based causes of RA are mostly out of your control, you do get to decide what you eat.

And that’s good news because it turns out that nutritional therapy can be a powerful tool for managing RA. According to a 2017 study in Frontiers in Nutrition, dietary changes can reduce RA flare-ups. In the same study, scientists found that nutritional interventions can also delay RA progression. The researchers drew a direct connection between gut health, diet, and the symptoms and development of RA.

Is it metaphor time again? OK — it’s like your microbiome is full of trillions of employees, many of whom train, manage, and recruit the workers who run the immune system. And they eat all their meals at the company cafeteria. If you serve them abundant and nutritious fare, they do their jobs well. If you give them junk food, quality goes out the window, and pretty much anything goes.

Plant-Based Diets and Rheumatoid Arthritis

So, what types of dietary changes help with rheumatoid arthritis the most?

Specifically, people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis are encouraged to focus on eating plenty of colorful, whole foods, especially as part of a plant-based diet. Both vegetarian and vegan diets may help reduce inflammation and pain in RA. For example, a 2015 study found a 3-week vegan lifestyle intervention resulted in a 33% reduction in the level of C-reactive protein, a key marker of inflammation. Similarly, a randomized clinical trial found that a gluten-free, vegan diet decreases immunoglobulin G (IgG) for gliadin and whey — which are key proinflammatory antibodies.

Fruits and Vegetables for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Reducing inflammation and addressing symptoms of the existing disease is one thing, but what if diet might actually be able to prevent some RA cases? Excitingly, many fruits and vegetables may be protective against the development of RA. Specifically, a higher intake of certain carotenoids from fresh produce, as well as foods containing beta-cryptoxanthin from citrus and zeaxanthin from leafy greens, have been linked to lower rates of RA. One study involving more than 25,000 people found that the people who ate the most carotenoids had half the risk of developing inflammatory polyarthritis, compared with the people who ate the least.

Foods that are high in carotenoids include bell peppers, broccoli, cantaloupe, avocado, corn, kale, spinach, summer squash, and pumpkin.

Animal Protein and Rheumatoid Arthritis

Several studies have found improvements in RA symptoms like joint pain, stiffness, swelling, and limitation in function with diets low in arachidonic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid primarily found in animal products. Furthermore, a reduction in animal protein is linked to lower inflammatory markers and increased insulin sensitivity. By replacing animal products with low-inflammatory, nutrient-rich plant foods, you may be fueling your body with what it needs to heal.

A whole foods, plant-based diet is, of course, naturally low in (or free of) animal products. This eating path is also low in saturated fat and rich in inflammation-busting compounds. It’s also higher in fiber, which turns out to be critical to the health of your microbiome.

Prioritize High-Fiber, Whole Foods

Fruits and veggies are healthy for a thousand reasons, including that they’re just the kind of foods that your “good” gut bugs need to thrive. Research tells us that the bacteria and yeasts most beneficial to humans actually get stronger when fed colorful plant-based foods that are rich in fiber.

In RA patients, studies have shown that fiber improves gut bacteria composition and increases bacterial diversity. The resulting boost in gut health reduces levels of inflammation and joint pain.

Sadly, less than 5% of people get enough fiber in their daily diets. And adjusting to a high-fiber diet can take some work, so to help you figure out how to get more fiber, we’ve put together some resources in our article on why fiber is good for you.

When it comes to the inflammation that underlies RA, new research is beginning to look at the connection between intestinal and joint inflammation as well as the influence of high-fiber, low-glycemic index foods on inflammatory gene expression. Below are some recipes for rheumatoid arthritis to help you get started.

Recipes to Help Calm or Prevent Rheumatoid Arthritis

These delicious plant-based recipes contain healthy and anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats and nourishing antioxidants and micronutrients. Plus, they use highly supportive plant foods like cruciferous veggies and nourishing anti-inflammatory herbs like turmeric to support a healthy gut, so you can get back to enjoying life to the fullest!

1. Ocean’s Savory Oatmeal

Ocean’s Savory (Instant Pot) Oatmeal has all the plant-based goodness to help fight inflammation, improve gut health, and keep you mobile. Is savory oatmeal new to you? You’re in for a treat! It’s filled with fiber from the oats, seeds, and kale; protein from the pumpkin and hemp seeds; and phytonutrients from the kale, alliums (garlic and onion), spices, and seeds. To top it off, ground turmeric adds a touch of earthy flavor and boatloads of phytonutrients to make this an anti-inflammatory breakfast of champions. Plus, this recipe is nourishing, tasty, and a fun way to use that Instant Pot!

2. Purple Powered Lunch Bowl with Crispy Chickpeas

Support your joint health with this highly nutritious (and colorful!) anti-inflammatory Purple Powered Lunch Bowl with Crispy Chickpeas. This bowl is full of purple foods (as well as a few other colors!) indicating its phytonutrient power. Many of these phytonutrients act as antioxidants, scavenging free radicals and reducing inflammation to help support mobile joints and an active lifestyle. Some of the most beneficial types of veggies for joint health are cruciferous vegetables, and this bowl has a few! Kale and red cabbage contain a compound called sulforaphane which, when eaten regularly, has anti-arthritic capabilities that help to block joint inflammation and slow cartilage deterioration. Not only is this bowl packed with plant-nourishing goodness, but it’s also full of flavor, texture, and other essential nutrients that contribute to overall health.

3. Cherry Chia Cacao Pudding Parfait

This Cherry Chia Cacao Pudding Parfait is creamy, nourishing, and filled with healthy omega-3 fats that can help reduce swelling, tenderness, and morning stiffness of joints among people with rheumatoid arthritis. The cherries included in this nutritious treat are packed with antioxidants that also help to reduce pain and inflammation in joints (you might call this part of the recipe the beneficial “cherry on top!”). This powerhouse combo is not only beneficial for your body, but it’s tasty, too! Enjoy it for breakfast, dessert, or as a scrumptious afternoon pick-me-up.

Diet Can Help with RA

Rheumatoid arthritis can be debilitating, especially when pain and inflammation make it difficult to hold down a job or care for family members. Treatments are often aggressive and can have their own set of side effects, so many people look to lifestyle factors and complementary therapies for relief. Diet can be one of the most important interventions in preventing and managing rheumatoid arthritis because inflammation and gut dysbiosis seem to play a part in its development and progression. A whole foods, plant-based diet, in particular, is a low-risk option with potentially significant benefits for RA. Eating this way can reduce inflammatory markers, decrease the risk of flare-ups, and improve the quality of life for those suffering from rheumatoid arthritis — and for just about everyone else, too.

Tell us in the comments:

• Have you tried dietary changes to manage RA? What were the results?
• What is one change you could try this week to increase your fiber intake?
• What kind of food would you like to try to improve your RA?

Featured Image: AsiaVision

Read Next:

• What is Arthritis? + The Best and Worst Arthritis Foods
• How to Prevent Osteoporosis and Promote Bone Health with Food

The post How Diet and Good Gut Health Can Help Manage Pain & Inflammation in Rheumatoid Arthritis appeared first on Food Revolution Network.

When you go to the grocery store and see a bag of cashews going for around $15 a pound or more, you might also resent the high price. But when you learn how cashews are processed, so you can eat them for a snack or turn them into creamy plant-based sauces and dips, you’ll have a new appreciation for how much they cost.

Many plant-based eaters depend upon cashews for raising their culinary game. From cashew butter to cashew milk to cashew cheese and yogurt, to Indian, Southeast Asian, and African dishes enhanced by crunchy and creamy cashew pieces, this drupe has enabled dairy-free cooks to mimic much of the richness of cow’s milk without harming animals or degrading the environment.

And they’re not only versatile and delicious — as unofficial members of the nut family — cashews also pack a nutritional punch.

But cashews have a somber side, too, as we’ve learned by paying attention to their production and where they come from — and the ethical issues that surround their journey from tree to table. In this article, we’re going to look at the pros and cons of cashews, from their health benefits and culinary uses to ethical and sustainability concerns.

Where Do Cashews Come From?

As you might expect, cashews come from the cashew tree, a tropical plant that originated in Brazil and has been cultivated in many other tropical regions of the globe. Vietnam and India are considered the top producers of cashews, but that’s a misleading designation. Poorer countries like Ivory Coast, Burundi, and Benin are among the largest exporters of cashews. But they are not considered producers because what they export has to undergo extensive processing before it reaches edible form.

It turns out that cashews aren’t really nuts. Rather, they’re drupe seeds, like almonds — and plum and peach pits. To further muddle things up, these nuts-that-aren’t-really-nuts grow at the bottom of a fruit called a “cashew apple,” which isn’t really a fruit, but what’s known as a “false fruit” because it doesn’t form from the ovary of the plant.

The cashew apple is also edible but rarely exported since it has a short shelf life and doesn’t travel well. Within its countries of origin, the cashew apple is often juiced or dried, cooked into curries, fermented into vinegar, or used to make preserves, chutneys, and jams. In the Indian state of Goa, it’s fermented and distilled to make a seriously alcoholic drink known as feni. And it has many medicinal uses as well.

At the base of the cashew apple grows a kidney-bean-shaped hard shell with a single seed inside. That seed is the cashew “nut,” but don’t even think about picking it, cracking it open, and eating it like you would a walnut or pecan. As I said, that nut needs to be processed almost beyond recognition.

Now that we’re staring directly at the weirdness of this plant, guess what it’s related to botanically. If you said “poison ivy,” you’d be right. And as we’ll see a little later, that fact is why cashews represent huge occupational challenges for the workers who process them for our benefit.

Cashew Nutrition Facts

Cashews are a good source of plant-based protein. They’re also pretty high in fat, providing a mix of saturated and unsaturated fats. And like other plant-based sources of fat, cashews reduce your risk of premature death when you substitute them for animal-based fats.

Cashews are about the micronutrients as much as the macros. They’re a good source of vitamin K and B vitamins, as well as important minerals like iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, copper, and manganese. They’re also a decent source of the elusive mineral selenium. And in a victory for those of us who prefer roasted nuts (and drupes!) to raw ones, it appears that roasting cashews actually increases their antioxidant power.

Cashews also contain so-called “antinutrients” like lectins, phytates, and oxalates, which, despite what some wellness influencers claim, are not a problem for most people. If you want to maximize mineral absorption, you can neutralize the effect of these compounds by soaking your cashews for a few hours, or eating them with allium vegetables (such as onions and garlic) or foods containing vitamin C.

If you’re looking to lose weight, keep in mind that the high-fat content of cashews, coupled with their very low water content, means they are high in calories. In fact, an ounce of cashews delivers a whopping 155 calories, which comes out to almost 2,500 calories per pound. And given that they’re often roasted and salted to make them even more delicious, they’re pretty darn easy to overeat.

Health Benefits of Cashews

What do we know about how eating cashews can support your health?

Cashews and Heart Health

For starters, cashews appear to promote cardiovascular health. A 2017 study of American adults with high LDL (“bad”) cholesterol found that when they ate more cashews, their LDL levels dropped while their HDL (“good”) cholesterol remained constant.

In an Iranian study of type 2 diabetics published in 2019, one group was asked to consume 10% of their calories from cashews. The control group ate the same number of calories, but without the cashews. The cashew group didn’t gain weight but did see their cholesterol shift to a much more favorable ratio of “good” to “bad” cholesterol.

A meta-analysis of five other modest studies on cashews and cardiac health published that same year found that cashew consumption was correlated with lower triglyceride levels and lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Cashews and Bone Health

The nutrients in cashews, and particularly the minerals magnesium and copper, appear to support bone and joint health, too. Male rats with chemically-induced osteoarthritis (ugh — our view on the use of animals in medical research is here) who were fed cashew nuts demonstrated fewer and less severe “pain-like behaviors” and had improved pain-related biomarkers.

Are Cashews Good for Your Brain?

Also thanks to their tryptophan content, cashews may protect the brain and nervous system from the effects of aging — specifically, they may slow cognitive decline.

Cashews and Depression

Cashews may also help enhance your mood, and not just because they’re so darn yummy. They’re one of the richest sources of the amino acid tryptophan, a precursor to the neurotransmitter serotonin — one of the body’s endogenous antidepressants. The magnesium in cashews also fights depression and anxiety through its positive effects on the nervous system. It’s also crucial for maintaining stable blood sugar levels (which are also relevant to your mood).

What About Cashew Allergies?

Tree nuts represent one of the seven major allergenic food categories. Despite not being true tree nuts, cashews can still be potent allergens, causing severe reactions in susceptible people that can persist long-term, compared with some other food allergies. Both children and adults can be affected.

While the prevalence of cashew allergy appears to be increasing, it’s still relatively uncommon. A 2021 study of over 500 children with food allergies found that just over 3% of them showed sensitivity to cashews. The percentage among the general population is likely far lower.

With a couple of exceptions, cashews are good for the people eating them. But what about their effects on the planet and agricultural workers?

Are Cashews Sustainable?

Cashews perform surprisingly well in most measures of sustainability. In terms of water use, they’re just a little less thirsty than almonds, which are among the crops requiring the most hydration. But unlike almonds grown in the US, cashews are mostly harvested from trees in their natural environment, the tropics. So they receive their water allotment from rain (also known as “green water”) rather than the underground aquifers that supply the almond trees in drought-prone California.

True, that means the cashews consumed in the US are imports, which adds to their carbon footprint. But this is offset somewhat by the trees’ ability to sequester carbon in their biomass and in the soil.

Dairy substitutes made from cashews, such as milk, yogurt, spreads, and cheeses, are far more environmentally friendly than their dairy counterparts, especially when you consider greenhouse gas emissions.

Adding to the cashew advantage, the by-products of cashew processing have many other uses. The shell oil (which, confusingly, isn’t an oil, but rather a mixture of cardol and anacardic acid) appears in over 200 different patents. It’s an ingredient in things that must resist friction, heat, and acids, such as brake linings and clutch plates for the automotive industry, and also helps make glue and lightweight carbon-composite products such as rockets and high-end kayaks.

Cashew wood is also remarkably insect-resistant and favored for packing crates and bookcases. And the gum of the cashew tree works as an insect-repellent glue in bookbinding.

Should You Buy Organic Cashews?

Another plus for the planet is that a lot of cashew farming in Vietnam, Thailand, and India (major suppliers of the US market) occurs on “small, often wild or naturalized plantations” that don’t use any fertilizers or pesticides.

This doesn’t mean that the cashews you buy are guaranteed to be organic, though. There is a trend to apply pesticides even to naturally pest-resistant cashews, as they’ve been shown to slightly increase yield. The good news is that cashew nuts naturally have two protective coverings — the outer shell and the inner “testa” layer — shielding them from the direct application of pesticides. FDA testing did not find pesticide residue in most of the cashews it sampled. And so, you don’t have to buy organic cashews to avoid pesticides — although buying organic is generally better for people and the planet.

Overall, cashews are relatively sustainable, especially in comparison to meat and dairy.

Cashew Ethics

But while cashews can be nutritious and environmentally sustainable, the cashew industry is unfortunately notable for its track record of harming workers. To understand the scope and severity of the problem, let’s first look at what has to happen for cashews to get from a tree to your mouth.

Cashew Processing

First, it’s extremely labor intensive to harvest the nuts. Each cashew apple has one nut, which workers must harvest by hand. (One of the reasons they’re so expensive compared to many other nuts.)

The main issue, however, is that the cashews are toxic to the touch before and during processing. The shell that surrounds each cashew nut contains the toxic oil urushiol, which is the active ingredient in poison ivy. When urushiol touches human skin, it causes rashes, itching, blistering, and swelling.

As if that isn’t bad enough, the shell is also a source of phenolic resin, which contains formaldehyde and anacardic acid, which is also a powerful skin irritant.

Cashew nut consumers don’t have to worry about any of these compounds because they’re removed during processing. Once the shells are peeled, dried, and subjected to heat, there are no more toxins.

Harmful Effects on Cashew Workers

Unfortunately, the workers doing the cutting, peeling, drying, and heating of cashew processing experience all these side effects during their long daily shifts. Since they’re paid when they meet production quotas, rather than an hourly wage, they have to rush just to make the equivalent of $2–3 per day. And rushing while hand-cutting or peeling the fragile drupes leads to nasty skin burns.

Gloves would help but are not common for three reasons. First, the factories that employ the cashew processors (who are nearly all women) force them to pay for their own gloves. Second, the thin gloves that workers can afford often break, rendering them useless. And third, the women say that gloves make the work harder, slow them down, and keep them from earning what they need to feed their families.

Here’s an 8-minute heartbreaking video that shows why cashews are so expensive. And it illustrates the effects of cashew processing on a group of women in Sri Lanka. Trigger Warning: it shows disturbing images of the skin damage the women experience due to constant exposure to the corrosive oils and acids in the cashew shells.

Other Cashew Industry Labor Issues

As you can imagine, the only people who take such jobs are those with few other options. In fact, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report from 2011 revealed that Vietnamese cashew processing facilities were forced-labor camps for those convicted of being drug addicts. TIME magazine reported that prisoners who resisted were “beaten with truncheons, given electric shocks, locked in isolation, deprived of food and water, and obliged to work even longer hours…”

And very few workers are covered by health insurance, even when such coverage is mandatory by the government.

In response to all this, there are now global campaigns working to end the horrific practices of the “blood cashew” industry.

Fair-Trade Cashews

Not all cashew plantations and processing plants engage in the heinous — and profitable — practices described above. If you want to enjoy cashews and cashew products without contributing to the mistreatment of workers, you can.

One fair-trade cashew brand that I like is Beyond the Nut — and you can receive 10% off your first order from them with the code FOODREV10. Another fair-trade cashew brand you might want to check out is Uprise Foods, which you can purchase on Amazon here. These companies work with facilities that provide a fair wage, provide castor oil for workers to coat their skin to prevent weeping sores (while keeping their hands nimble enough to do the work), and give back to the local communities to help lift them out of poverty.

How to Store Cashews

Once you’ve bought fair-trade cashews, make sure you store them properly so you can enjoy them. It’s best to keep them in an airtight container — glass jars and silicone bags work nicely. If you have a large quantity that you aren’t going to use up quickly, store them in your refrigerator or freezer, where they can last for up to six months.

If you keep cashews in your pantry, make sure to protect them from light and heat; that way, you can enjoy them for up to three months.

Like other nuts (and drupes!), cashews can go bad if stored for too long in unfavorable conditions. Cashews will go rancid when exposed to light, air, and heat for too long. You’ll know if your cashews are ready for the compost if they have a harsh and bitter taste or an odor that reminds you of old paint or nail polish remover.

How to Use Cashews

You can, of course, snack on cashews all by themselves. You can also add them to recipes or use them as toppings for both sweet and savory dishes.

Here are some typical uses for cashews:

• On their own or on a charcuterie board as a snack; raw or roasted with herbs, spices, or even lemon juice
• Mixed into trail mix, granola, or energy balls
• Cashew butter
• Made into another sauce or condiment like cashew sour cream or a cashew spread
• Cashew cheese
• Used as a topping for stir-fry and other Asian dishes
• As a topping for plant-based yogurt or oatmeal
• Made into cashew milk or yogurt

Cashew Recipes

Homemade yogurt is an economical, nutritious, and delicious base in a range of recipes. Cashew cheese in an already-tasty, feeds-a-crowd veggie casserole, ups the “everyone will love this” quotient, just about ensuring that not a bite will go to waste. And, seasoned and roasted cashews become that special something that will delight your taste buds — a few will go a long way, either as a snack or in elevating your favorite dishes (plus, they store well!).

1. Easy Homemade Cashew Yogurt

This super simple, five-ingredient, plant-based yogurt will get you excited to be in the kitchen! Because cashews have a decent amount of plant-based fat, they create that creamy mouthfeel of traditional yogurt. Easy Homemade Cashew Yogurt is certainly worth the wait while healthy bacteria do their job making it nice and tangy. Check out the Chef’s Notes for all the ways you can use this creamy treat.

2. Broccoli Potato Casserole with Cashew Cheese

Cashews are a magical plant-based ingredient that easily blends into a silky and creamy dairy-free cheese or sauce to enhance just about any recipe. In Broccoli Potato Casserole with Cashew Cheese — a comforting, creamy, and mouthwatering meal — they are truly a game changer! This wholesomely cheesy casserole is an ideal plant-based dish for the entire family!

3. Chili-Spiced Roasted Cashews

Their slightly sweet yet neutral flavor makes cashews a perfect vehicle for the creative use of your favorite flavors, herbs, and spices (and roasting them makes them even more deliciously nutty!). Here, fresh lime, fragrant chili powder, and robust tones of garlic make way for a slightly sweet and savory snack — for any time a crunchy craving hits. What’s more, you can add them to your favorite savory plant-based dishes for an extra kick of flavor and crunch!

Enjoy Cashews Responsibly

The cashew is a delicious “nut” that can be enjoyed as is, and also makes a versatile substitute for dairy. It’s healthy and nutritious, though some people need to avoid it because of allergies. And because cashew processing plants have a track record of mistreating and underpaying their employees, I recommend choosing only fair-trade certified cashews, even if they cost a bit more than regular brands.

Tell us in the comments:

• What’s your favorite nut (or drupe)?
• Have you used cashews to replace dairy products? If so, how did it work?
• What cashew recipe will you try?

Feature Image: iStock.com/Altayb

Read Next:

• Are Almonds Sustainable?
• The Truth About Palm Oil: The Dark Side You Probably Don’t Know

The post Are Cashews Healthy, Ethical, or Sustainable? appeared first on Food Revolution Network.