Welcome to Science Facts Sundays.
These are some notes I took when reading Iron Rich Foods: Unlock the Iron in Your Food and Fight Iron Deficiency by Amanda Rose, Ph.D.
My daughter knows why we don’t drink milk with an iron-rich meal. She can tell you, “calcium inhibits iron absorption!”
I don’t see the point of eating foods and not being able to absorb them and utilize all their benefits. What a shame to waste the iron in our foods when we eat them with dairy products. Simply knowing to separate the foods for ultimate utilization can be helpful for combating low iron levels.
You may find this geeky - so be forewarned! If this topic doesn’t appeal to you, check back in a few weeks and I’ll have moved on to something else that you may be interested in.
Here are some morsels for you to chew on (written in my own words):
Natto (fermented soybeans) is top-of-the-list when it comes to iron-rich beans and legumes.
Other beans and legumes with a decent amount of iron content are: winged beans, white beans, lentils, mothbeans, kidney beans, and chickpeas.
Unfortunately, simple soaking will still leave 3/4ths or even 9/10ths of the phytic acid in your beans - but it will decrease cooking time.
Although sprouting your beans will increase their nutrition, they will still retain much of their phytic acid.
What to do?!
Soak them overnight in warm water and keep them at 120 - 140 degrees (as one study showed this was an ideal temp) or as warm as you can. You can put them near a crock pot [or use a heating mat system like Kombucha Kamp has]. You can even put them in your dehydrator to keep them warm. Starting off with very warm water is a good way to jump-start the heat.
Adding lemon juice or apple cider vinegar can cause the pH to drop and help in breaking down phytic acid. Some feel this sacrifices flavor. [I'd like to see this done with water kefir!]
Canned beans would be a good choice if you need those phytic acid levels down. Because the beans are sitting in a liquid on the shelf, they are “soaking” quite a while. Unfortunately, the canning process reduces some of the other nutrients (not iron).
Soybeans can be a problem. It seems the only way to really reduce phytic acid content is to ferment them.
Topping the list of iron-rich nuts and seeds are sesame seeds. One serving will provide 82% of your daily recommendation for iron. Next in line are punkin seeds, providing 42% of your daily recommendation for iron.
Other nuts and seeds with a decent amount of iron are: watermelon seeds (who knew?!), sunflower seeds, cashews, flaxseed, and pine nuts.
Soak your seeds and nuts as you would your grains (sesame seeds will turn to mush, though). Then drain out the water and put them in your dehydrator or in your oven (on low). Soaking them in warm water will help for the same reason we discussed above about beans. [I personally add some water kefir to my nuts when I soak them!]
Sprouting the nuts will enhance nutrition - but they will only sprout if they were raw to begin with.
If you are making your nuts into nut butter, you can grind then first (coarsely) before soaking. This provides more surface area in your nuts and seeds and helps in reducing phytic acid.
That’s it for today! I hope you learned something. If you did, feel free to leave me a note in the comments 
If you didn’t learn anything, then you are definitely a geek! 
Next week we continue the discussion on vegetables and iron and phytic acid…
Amanda Rose, Ph.D. authored Iron Rich Foods: Unlock the Iron in Your Food and Fight Iron Deficiency, where I have based these science facts. She is also the author of Rebuild From Depression: A Nutrient Guide, Including Depression in Pregnancy and Postpartum, and the Phytic Acid White Paper: Reducing Phytic Acid in Your Food. She is also the blogger behind Traditional-Foods.com.
- Intro
- Part 1
- Part 2: Meat (and some grains)
- Part 3: Soaking Cereal Grains
- Part 4: Baked Bread
- Part 5: Beans, Nuts and Seeds
- Part 6: Vegetables
- Part 7: Fruit, Dairy, Sweeteners, Herbs and Spices
- Part 8: Beverages & Cooking in Cast Iron
- Part 9 (Final): Meal Ideas
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| Lea Harris founded Nourishing Treasures in 2006. A mom passionate about her family's health and well-being, Lea believes education is power. Encouraging others to take baby steps in the right direction of health for their families, Lea's goal is to raise awareness of what goes into our mouths and on our bodies, providing natural alternative information that promotes health and prevents disease by using traditional foods and nature's medicine.
Lea is a Certified Health Coach graduate from Beyond Organic University, and a Certified Aromatherapist graduate from Aromahead Institute. "Like" Nourishing Treasures on Facebook, join the Nourishing Treasures Group on Facebook, follow @NourishTreasure on Twitter, and subscribe to our newsletter. You can also find me on Learning About Essential Oils forum, and Fido Fermentation Facebook group. Disclaimer: I use affiliate links wherever possible. So if you click on a link, and make a purchase, I might make a small commission, but it doesn't cost you any more. |
Lea, Does the book say anything about using the “quick soak” method? This is when you put beans and cold water in a pot, bring it to a boil, put lid on and remove from heat, and let it sit an hour. Then you drain and cook as normal. Would this remove as much of the phytates as soaking overnight at a warm temp? I prefer a long soak with acid to the quick soak method, but it might be a nice alternative if you forget to soak your beans. I’m going to stick mine in the Excalibur next time. Thanks!
No, not specifically. I’ll have Amanda answer your question as to if that method would work well
Hey ladies. Here’s a lot of the bean research in the book:
http://www.traditional-foods.com/soaking-beans/
Sarah — It wouldn’t be as effective, but if I were in a jam for dinner, I’d use that quick method.
Amanda
We have an old O’keefe & Merritt stove and the center of it is a griddle area but we don’t use it. It’s always very warm there and I’m thinking that would provide a good warmth for this method.