I have heard that the phytic acid in whole grains is "bad" for you because it prevents minerals from being absorbed. Also that you can buy enzyme products that contain Phytase, which would neutralize the phytic acid and therefore allow your whole grain to be properly absorbed & digested.

Someone, somewhere, suggested that "it doesn't work like that" but didn't explain himself.

Does anyone here have any further information as to whether or not it does any good to take a phytase supplement?

I have no intentions of removing whole grains completely from my diet, even though I don't consume a lot of them. I like brown rice once in a while and do not wish to always have to soak it for a day or so in whey. I don't even have access to whey.

Why would you even want to eliminate phytic acid, unless you have some kind of disease? Much has been discuss on natmedtalk about IP6, which is phytic acid. Look that up.

For one thing, researchers find that phytic acid in fibers of grains and legumes is responsible for preventing colon cancer. IP6 prevents cancer, because it is the best detox for iron. Cancer seems to require iron, or at least it seems to draw in iron.

Phytic acid has an affinity to the heavy metals. It can bind to the lesser metals too, but it has to give up other bound metals first. In foods it comes into the body already bound to some heavy metals, so its not going to get much more from the body. And besides, most foods come with their own supply of good minerals. On a bottle of IP6 supplements, it normally says to take a mineral supplement.

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- Jim
"The most powerful force ever known on this planet is human cooperation � a force for construction and destruction.� (Jonathan Haidt)

"For one thing, researchers find that phytic acid in fibers of grains and legumes is responsible for preventing colon cancer. IP6 prevents cancer, because it is the best detox for iron. Cancer seems to require iron, or at least it seems to draw in iron."

People who eat a lot of red meat likely benefit from consuming phytic acid. The rest of us don't.

"Phytic acid has an affinity to the heavy metals. It can bind to the lesser metals too, but it has to give up other bound metals first. In foods it comes into the body already bound to some heavy metals, so its not going to get much more from the body. And besides, most foods come with their own supply of good minerals. On a bottle of IP6 supplements, it normally says to take a mineral supplement."

Why would they advise you on the bottle of IP6 to take minerals if that product didn't create a mineral deficiency?

Do you think we only get iron from red meat?

Take a mineral supplement to replace some of the minerals that IP6 may remove, such as zinc and magnesium. Obviously, if you don't really need IP6 or don't have many heavy metals to remove, the IP6 may bind things that you need. Any heavy metal detox requires an added mineral supplement. As I said, phytic acid, coming naturally in food, will already have metals bound to it, so it would not be removing much from the body. Alone however, it is a detox protocol.

as long as one eats a relatively diverse amount of food, not even to an extravagant degree, then there is no need to worry about this. metals are moving in and out of the body all day every day. it is unavoidable, and would not benefit ones health if it were avoidable, as many of these compounds are in direct competition with each other, anyways. ie if one is high then the other is low, and vice versa. it is just as good to remove some metals as it is to add others.

on a side note, red bell pepper has a ridiculously high amount of iron, more than tomatoes. greens are known for chelating metals from the body, but also contain really high levels of necessary metals too.

if one broke down and analyzed every item that we ate like this, then we would all be afraid to eat anything. natures already got it figured out, just eat what you crave and enjoy, so long as it's natural. i find it funny that most indigenous tribes do not have nutrient deficiencies or dental issues. i don't believe they analyze their food like this.

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That's right. Think of seaweed. Japan would be extinct.

I do have problems with food containing high iron. Constipating. Badly. But I don't stress myself over it. I just eat less spinach and other such things. Men have no way to eliminate iron naturally, except donating blood, natural plant chelators, or specific detox protocols.

No, there's no need to "analyze every item that we ate like this". Good point.

As to your second point, we are not members of indigenous tribes. We have countless years of civilized (eating cultivated food) dietary history and subsequent bodily evolution going along with it. Analytical nutrition developed as a result of the challenges that then came along. We can't live solely that way, but neither (in my judgment) should we ignore it altogether.

i just think that too many people get caught up trying to design a meal or diet from a scientific point of view, which to me is absurd. the reason that certain spices are paired together with certain foods or dishes is not only because they taste good, but because they compliment each other perfectly from a chemical/nutritional point of view. go figure, all the classic tasty recipes are the most nutritionally balanced meals around. just tweak small things like ratios and fat content to ones liking and voila.

really? cardio!!

i read just recently, that in addition to soaking nuts/grains to reduce phytic acid, toasting the nut/grain before use works pretty well too, though not as much as sprouting. toasting rice before cooking is really tasty