How your Kale habit is slowly destroying your health

Acg67

Kale is one of those vegetables that everyone thinks is so healthy. From kale chips to kale salad, kale has become an extremely trendy vegetables. But people have embraced kale without thinking enough about the chemicals it contains and its effects on the Earth. What you don't know could kale you.

Before scientists were blinded by kale’s health food halo, they studied its horrific effect on livestock. Farmer’s had been mystified by the births of lambs that already had goiter. Researchers experimented with kale on sheep and rabbits with grisly results. Turns out kale does contain a goitrogen, thiocyanate, which is chemically very similar to deadly cyanide. Some young lambs were stillborn, their brain development stunted by their goiters. The consumption of kale had blocked their thyroid’s ability to function properly even in the presence of proper iodine consumption. With many Americans consuming little iodine, especially those obsessed with health foods who eschew iodized salt, the effects could be devastating.

Even more alarming, later experiments showed that mixing the kale with corn and blood meal increased the effect, something you might want to think about next time you consider sauteed kale with cornmeal pancakes and blood sausage.

Scientists then never considered that humans would someday consider kale a “health food.” Back then it was only food for livestock and ignorant Scottish peasants. But even though people weren’t noshing on kale chips all day, kale managed to poison them. Cows grazing on kale transferred its poisons to their milk, affecting the thyroid development of children who drank it and causing an epidemic of goiter on Tasmania.

Kale is also rich in sulfur and compounds that convert to sulfur, which is the chemical that makes rotten eggs smell putrid. One metabolite of sulfur, S-methylcysteine sulphoxide, is known to cause “kale poisoning” – severe hemolytic anemia, a life-threatening breakdown of red blood cells, in livestock. Poor sulfur digestion is associated with many serious illinesses in humans, though whether it causes them or merely exacerbates them remains to be seen.

It makes sense that Kale would be dangerous given it evolved in an evolutionary war against those that dare to eat its leaves from aurochs to insects. One powerful weapon it possesses is lectins, which many of you recognize as a serious danger to human health, implicated in many autoimmune illnesses and other inflammatory disorders. The lectins in kale and other related species are very similar to the equally dangerous wheat germ agglutinin lectin.

Some people think that kale and other related vegetables prevent cancer, but large-scale epidemiological studies have shown no such effect and their phytochemicals may even cause cancer. For example, indole and its derivatives have been shown to promote many types of cancer, possibly by causing hormone imbalances or by stimulating the cyt-P450 pathway that produces genotoxic metabolites. If you already have cancer, it can promote further growth and the so-called “antioxidants” which people think are so healthy can prevent your body from fighting the cancer effectively.

Studies in pigs have shown that kale’s close cousin broccoli promotes severe DNA damage in the colon. Kale may also promote other types of digestive problems through difficult-to-digest carbohydrates known as fructans, part of a family experts are calling FODMAPs (Fermentable, Oligo-, Di-, Mono-saccharides And Polyols). Many people have found relief from IBS and other stomach problems by avoiding foods like kale on a low-FODMAPs diet. If you are constantly bloated and gassy it might be the pound of kale you are eating for breakfast every day.

You probably already worry a lot about antinutrients in grains, but kale contains many of the same antinutrients that rob your body of important vitamins and minerals and irritate the digestive tract including oxalate, phytic acid, and tannins.

The amounts of these chemicals in each variety of kale varies widely, so consuming kale is like eating an uncontrolled cocktail of immunogenic and bioactive health-harming chemicals and their even more chaotic breakdown products. Terrifyingly, these chemicals also vary with time of day and season, even when they are in your fridge!

Read the rest here

http://huntgatherlove.com/content/just-kale-me-how-your-kale-habit-slowly-destroying-your-health-and-world

lithezebra

Whew! Time to crack a bottle of champagne and celebrate the fact that I don't like kale.

YAYJules

Whew! Time to crack a bottle of champagne and celebrate the fact that I don't like kale.

Hey, me too!! It's a Kale hating party! :drinker:

_errata_

Vegetables are not to be trusted.

lithezebra

It doesn't taste like much of anything, and it's tough and chewy until it's been cooked so long that it turns to slime.

magerum

Always said kale was the only thing not allowed in my house. It's just gross.

snazzyjazzy21

I love it when 'superfoods' can actually kill you. Living on the edge!

lithezebra

I love it when 'superfoods' can actually kill you. Living on the edge!

I'm pretty sure that I nearly choked to death on broccoli as a child, trying to swallow bites of it without chewing.

MercenaryNoetic26

:laugh: Kale chips gonna kale you!

Yeah, I never jumped on that bandwagon.

aliencheesecake

Read the rest here

http://huntgatherlove.com/content/just-kale-me-how-your-kale-habit-slowly-destroying-your-health-and-world

Man, WTH? I love Kale! In ham juice!

likesmetal

You guys should probably read the article up to the part that says "Just Kidding".


http://huntgatherlove.com/content/just-kale-me-how-your-kale-habit-slowly-destroying-your-health-and-world

Just Kidding

I was going to put this part up the next day, but the reaction I got from the post was so extreme that I almost immediately felt guilty. People sent me emails asking advice about other vegetables that might be bad. Some of the comments were hilarious, some just made me feel bad



And in general people took if very very seriously, I guess they forgot I had put up a poll some time ago asking what food should be my victim to demonstrate you can demonize anything with Pubmed. Also I thought the language was pretty silly: "ignorant Scottish peasants" ... " delicious nutritious cow’s liver"??

Yes, Kale does contain chemicals, all foods do. In very large amounts or in certain vulnerable people could cause problems. Many of the studies I chose involved animals with a diet almost completely based on kale, which I think anyone will agree is a bad idea. Most also involved varieties not sold for human consumption and consumed in ways that humans might not consume- uncooked, un-marinated, etc. A lot of the rest involved just scary language about various chemicals and studies involving isolated chemicals.

I do think that the point about antioxidants being overrated is valid, but overall I don't think kale or most other foods (barring actual intolerances or allergies) are going to cause problems as part of a diverse diet. Maybe you shouldn't juice a pound of kale and drink it for breakfast every day though. Sadly to say, I have met people who do things like that. You have to respect that leaves have to protect themselves from herbivory or these plants would not have survived millions of years of evolution. Some of those chemicals to deter consumption can be healthy in small amounts, but unhealthy in largely amounts.

I will say the issues regarding leafy green production being destructive are worth thinking about, but you can certainly find responsibly-produced kale in season at your local farmer's market. I brought them up because people rarely think about the environmental effects of things that have a moral halo around them like greens, including people more than willing to tell you about how bad meat is for the environment. We should think about the fact that people pretty much demand to have salad greens every single month of the year and what that means for wildlife, wetlands, and biodiversity in general.

But when you see an article that demonizes a food, think about whether or not there are citations and follow those citations. Ask yourself whether they apply to human beings eating a diverse diet with adequete calories. Or whether they involve very high concentrations no human being eats, isolated chemicals, or preparations that no normal human would put on their plate. I see narratives like this, not as satire, in many diet books and on a lot of diet blogs. I have been guilty of this in the past, when I took a lot of stuff seriously that I no longer worry about. Like phytic acid in foods– most of the studies that show this is a problem involve populations of people who are malnourished. I suppose some people get to that point while dieting though.

As far as the cornmeal pancakes with blood sausage and sauteed kale, I think that's what I'm going to have for breakfast today.

Myhaloslipped

Lol this is hilarious!

millerll

Don't tell Tracy Anderson!

Good one, ACG! :drinker:

sammi674

Good thing I stick to romaine for my salads/greens.

lsmsrbls

Y'all really need to approach outrageous claims more skeptically.

_errata_

Still don't trust vegetables. Even AFTER I read the whole article.

AleciaG724

HAhaha!! I love you!

I was curiously reading the comments by the kale-haters and then just going to post, "not buying it, I like kale"...

heatherloveslifting

Meh, I can definitely live without kale.

But if chocolate is deadly I don't want to know.

lerchfighter

I find that beer is a great replacement for almost any vegetable on the planet. It can also supplant protein requirements during Mardi Gras. Macros people! It's all simple math.

itsjustdawn

It doesn't taste like much of anything, and it's tough and chewy until it's been cooked so long that it turns to slime.

And this right here is all I need to know. I have been afraid to try it and now I am just terrified. Thank you.

cmriverside

vegetables are what food eats.


the end.

Sarauk2sf

You have links and quotes and references to science and long words and everything! Must be legit.

benol1

vegetables are what food eats.


the end.

Trust me, you don't want to try and take a bite out of me.

cmriverside

vegetables are what food eats.


the end.

Trust me, you don't want to try and take a bite out of me.

au contraire

aliencheesecake

You guys should probably read the article up to the part that says "Just Kidding".


http://huntgatherlove.com/content/just-kale-me-how-your-kale-habit-slowly-destroying-your-health-and-world

Just Kidding

I was going to put this part up the next day, but the reaction I got from the post was so extreme that I almost immediately felt guilty. People sent me emails asking advice about other vegetables that might be bad. Some of the comments were hilarious, some just made me feel bad


But when you see an article that demonizes a food, think about whether or not there are citations and follow those citations. Ask yourself whether they apply to human beings eating a diverse diet with adequete calories. Or whether they involve very high concentrations no human being eats, isolated chemicals, or preparations that no normal human would put on their plate. I see narratives like this, not as satire, in many diet books and on a lot of diet blogs. I have been guilty of this in the past, when I took a lot of stuff seriously that I no longer worry about. Like phytic acid in foods– most of the studies that show this is a problem involve populations of people who are malnourished. I suppose some people get to that point while dieting though.

As far as the cornmeal pancakes with blood sausage and sauteed kale, I think that's what I'm going to have for breakfast today.

Dammit! I didn't read it... cuz I was already prepared to not believe it. I feel the same way; basically any time I see "new" evidence that such and such is bad for you, I think, WHAT ISN'T> Besides...I just TRUSTED you guys. lol That'll teach me.

klinger6395

KALE CHIPS HOT AND SPICY FLAVORED FOR DAYZZZ

ElmiMN

Ahaha! I was about to text all my kale lovers. This made my day

Cranquistador

vegetables are what food eats.


the end.

Trust me, you don't want to try and take a bite out of me.

au contraire

bien sur.

ryry_

What you don't know could kale you = my new standard response to ridiculous alarmism threads

EvgeniZyntx

vegetables are what food eats.


the end.

Trust me, you don't want to try and take a bite out of me.

au contraire

bien sur.

Bien cuit.

Ophidion

Over did it on the Kale again...