Pomegranate vs Apricot – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing pomegranate to apricot, we picked the pomegranate.
Why?
Both are great! Top tier fruits. But ultimately, pomegranate does have more to offer:
In terms of macros, pomegranate has more protein, carbs, and fiber (and even a little healthy fat—it’s the seeds); the main deciding factor on macros for fruits is almost always the fiber, and that’s the case here, which is why we hand the win to pomegranates in this category.
In the category of vitamins, pomegranates have more of vitamins B1, B2, b5, B6, B7, B9, K, and choline, while apricots have more of vitamins A, B3, and E. A clear win for pomegranates here.
When it comes to minerals, pomegranate has more copper, calcium, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, selenium, and zinc, while apricots boast just a little more calcium and iron. Another easy win for pomegranates.
Looking at polyphenols, apricots finally win a category, with greater overall polyphenol coverage.
Which is good, but not enough to overcome the other three categories all being in pomegranates’ favor—hence the overall win for pomegranates here!
Of course, the solution is to enjoy both! Diversity is good, for exactly such reasons as this.
Want to learn more?
You might like to read:
Pomegranate’s Health Gifts Are Mostly In Its Peel ← in other words, the one part of the fruit you don’t normally eat. However! It can be dried and ground into a powder supplement, or else made in pomegranate tea.
Enjoy!
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Your Skin Microbiome & The Sun
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Should we soak up the sun for its health benefits, protect our skin from it at all costs? Is sunscreen the one skincare product that everyone truly needs, or is it just adding chemicals to our skin? What’s the truth in a world full of conflicting information?
We’ve tackled some of these questions before, diving into the science of the pros and cons, including:
…and:
And now, today, we’re going to be talking about some entirely new science!
An extra layer of protection
Who would win:
- a 4,600,000,000-year-old ongoing nuclear fusion event whose superheated plasma is held in place by its own immense gravity well, or
- some single-celled organisms that were born a few minutes ago?
The answer is that the latter can, in fact, help to protect us against the former.
Re “born a few minutes ago”: if you’ll pardon the rhetorical device (per “born yesterday” etc), what we mean here is that the life cycle of such microbes is very short, so while your microbiome is as old as you are (albeit in ship of Theseus sort of way), any individual living microbes will not be more than some minutes old.
We mention this not as a matter of mere interesting trivia, but rather because it has practical implications: when it comes to our microbiome (or microbiomes, depending on whether we want to count different sites on/in our body separately, as is often useful, even if technically they all do interact with each other thus they could be considered one big diverse microbiome too), it is a living community that needs to be given the right circumstances to perpetuate and favorably mutate itself constantly.
It’s not something that can be optimized and then just taken for granted. Because sure, given good conditions, an optimized microbiome will then continue to self-perpetuate, mutate as it goes, and by virtue of natural selection, continue to persist against threats. But if not given good conditions? You could wreak havoc with it and take weeks or more for it to recover. And if those bad conditions are chronic, it might never recover.
So, more on healthy microbiome curation later, but first, the exciting new science!
Teaser:
❝This pivotal study shows that microbial communities are not passive victims of environmental stress but dynamic regulators of immune responses, capable of metabolizing UV-induced skin products such as cis-urocanic acid. This newly uncovered role of microbial metabolism in modulating UV tolerance reshapes our understanding of the skin barrier — not just as a structural shield but as a metabolically active, microbially regulated interface. With increasing concerns about UV exposure, skin aging, and cancer, a deeper understanding of this axis offers promising avenues for therapy and prevention.❞
~ Dr. Anna Di Nardo (not one of the study authors, just a physician-scientist expert in the field)
In few words: researchers have discovered that certain bacteria on our skin help protect us from sun damage and also play a role in controlling our immune system.
How this works: when sunlight (especially UVB rays) hits our skin, it changes a natural chemical there (namely: trans-urocanic acid) into a dangerous form (namely: cis-urocanic acid), which also incidentally weakens the immune system. Some skin bacteria can break down this harmful chemical with an enzyme they produce (namely: urocanase). This enables the skin to better manage its skin exposure; specifically, controlling responses to UV exposure.
This is exciting, because it’s the first evidence of a direct link between UV rays, a skin molecule, and microbial activity affecting health outcomes, not just passively, but through active metabolism.
You can read the paper itself here:
Great! How can we make use of this information?
Per the researchers’ conclusions, these insights could change how we think about sun protection, immune-related skin diseases, skin cancer, and more. The note also that future sun care could include microbiome-aware treatments that adjust bacterial metabolism to improve skin health after sun exposure.
And in the meantime? Generally speaking when it comes to microbiome health (any microbiome; gut, oral, skin, etc), a good rule of thumb is “if in doubt, just leave it alone and let it do its thing”.
This might sound like passive “do-nothing” advice, and in a way it is, but a lot of people don’t do nothing, and when it comes to the skin microbiome in particular, it’s very common for people to invest a lot of time and energy into killing everything that moves, so the advice here is “stop doing that”.
Which doesn’t mean you mustn’t wash; by all means, feel free to wash, but gently.
We’ve written a bit about this before:
And if you already have sun-damaged skin…
Undo The Sun’s Damage To Your Skin
Take care!
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They Were Injured at the Super Bowl Parade. A Month Later, They Feel Forgotten.
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KFF Health News and KCUR are following the stories of people injured during the Feb. 14 mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl celebration. Listen to how one Kansas family is coping with the trauma.
Jason Barton didn’t want to attend the Super Bowl parade this year. He told a co-worker the night before that he worried about a mass shooting. But it was Valentine’s Day, his wife is a Kansas City Chiefs superfan, and he couldn’t afford to take her to games since ticket prices soared after the team won the championship in 2020.
So Barton drove 50 miles from Osawatomie, Kansas, to downtown Kansas City, Missouri, with his wife, Bridget, her 13-year-old daughter, Gabriella, and Gabriella’s school friend. When they finally arrived home that night, they cleaned blood from Gabriella’s sneakers and found a bullet in Bridget’s backpack.
Gabriella’s legs were burned by sparks from a ricocheted bullet, Bridget was trampled while shielding Gabriella in the chaos, and Jason gave chest compressions to a man injured by gunfire. He believes it was Lyndell Mays, one of two men charged with second-degree felony murder.
“There’s never going to be a Valentine’s Day where I look back and I don’t think about it,” Gabriella said, “because that’s a day where we’re supposed to have fun and appreciate the people that we have.”
One month after the parade in which the U.S. public health crisis that is gun violence played out on live television, the Bartons are reeling from their role at its epicenter. They were just feet from 43-year-old Lisa Lopez-Galvan, who was killed. Twenty-four other people were injured. Although the Bartons aren’t included in that official victim number, they were traumatized, physically and emotionally, and pain permeates their lives: Bridget and Jason keep canceling plans to go out, opting instead to stay home together; Gabriella plans to join a boxing club instead of the dance team.
During this first month, Kansas City community leaders have weighed how to care for people caught in the bloody crossfire and how to divide more than $2 million donated to public funds for victims in the initial outpouring of grief.
The questions are far-reaching: How does a city compensate people for medical bills, recovery treatments, counseling, and lost wages? And what about those who have PTSD-like symptoms that could last years? How does a community identify and care for victims often overlooked in the first flush of reporting on a mass shooting: the injured?
The injured list could grow. Prosecutors and Kansas City police are mounting a legal case against four of the shooting suspects, and are encouraging additional victims to come forward.
“Specifically, we’re looking for individuals who suffered wounds from their trying to escape. A stampede occurred while people were trying to flee,” said Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker. Anyone who “in the fleeing of this event that maybe fell down, you were trampled, you sprained an ankle, you broke a bone.”
Meanwhile, people who took charge of raising money and providing services to care for the injured are wrestling with who gets the money — and who doesn’t. Due to large donations from celebrities like Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, some victims or their families will have access to hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical expenses. Other victims may simply have their counseling covered.
The overall economic cost of U.S. firearm injuries is estimated by a recent Harvard Medical School study at $557 billion annually. Most of that — 88% — represented quality-of-life losses among those injured by firearms and their families. The JAMA-published study found that each nonfatal firearm injury leads to roughly $30,000 in direct health care spending per survivor in the first year alone.
In the immediate aftermath of the shootings, as well-intentioned GoFundMe pages popped up to help victims, executives at United Way of Greater Kansas City gathered to devise a collective donation response. They came up with “three concentric circles of victims,” said Jessica Blubaugh, the United Way’s chief philanthropy officer, and launched the #KCStrong campaign.
“There were folks that were obviously directly impacted by gunfire. Then the next circle out is folks that were impacted, not necessarily by gunshots, but by physical impact. So maybe they were trampled and maybe they tore a ligament or something because they were running away,” Blubaugh said. “Then third is folks that were just adjacent and/or bystanders that have a lot of trauma from all of this.”
PTSD, Panic, and the Echo of Gunfire
Bridget Barton returned to Kansas City the day after the shooting to turn in the bullet she found in her backpack and to give a statement at police headquarters. Unbeknownst to her, Mayor Quinton Lucas and the police and fire chiefs had just finished a press conference outside the building. She was mobbed by the media assembled there — interviews that are now a blur.
“I don’t know how you guys do this every day,” she remembered telling a detective once she finally got inside.
The Bartons have been overwhelmed by well wishes from close friends and family as they navigate the trauma, almost to the point of exhaustion. Bridget took to social media to explain she wasn’t ignoring the messages, she’s just responding as she feels able — some days she can hardly look at her phone, she said.
A family friend bought new Barbie blankets for Gabriella and her friend after the ones they brought to the parade were lost or ruined. Bridget tried replacing the blankets herself at her local Walmart, but when she was bumped accidentally, it triggered a panic attack. She abandoned her cart and drove home.
“I’m trying to get my anxiety under control,” Bridget said.
That means therapy. Before the parade, she was already seeing a therapist and planning to begin eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, a form of therapy associated with treating post-traumatic stress disorder. Now the shooting is the first thing she wants to talk about in therapy.
Since Gabriella, an eighth grader, has returned to middle school, she has dealt with the compounding immaturity of adolescence: peers telling her to get over it, pointing finger guns at her, or even saying it should have been her who was shot. But her friends are checking on her and asking how she’s doing. She wishes more people would do the same for her friend, who took off running when the shooting started and avoided injury. Gabriella feels guilty about bringing her to what turned into a horrifying experience.
“We can tell her all day long, ‘It wasn’t your fault. She’s not your responsibility.’ Just like I can tell myself, ‘It wasn’t my fault or my responsibility,’” Bridget said. “But I still bawled on her mom’s shoulder telling her how sorry I was that I grabbed my kid first.”
The two girls have spent a lot of time talking since the shooting, which Gabriella said helps with her own stress. So does spending time with her dog and her lizard, putting on makeup, and listening to music — Tech N9ne’s performance was a highlight of the Super Bowl celebration for her.
In addition to the spark burns on Gabriella’s legs, when she fell to the concrete in the pandemonium she split open a burn wound on her stomach previously caused by a styling iron.
“When I see that, I just picture my mom trying to protect me and seeing everyone run,” Gabriella said of the wound.
It’s hard not to feel forgotten by the public, Bridget said. The shooting, especially its survivors, have largely faded from the headlines aside from court dates. Two additional high-profile shootings have occurred in the area since the parade. Doesn’t the community care, she wonders, that her family is still living with the fallout every day?
“I’m going to put this as plainly as possible. I’m f—ing pissed because my family went through something traumatic,” Bridget vented in a recent social media post. “I don’t really want anything other [than], ‘Your story matters, too, and we want to know how you’re doing.’ Have we gotten that? Abso-f—lutely not.”
‘What Is the Landscape of Need?’
Helped in part by celebrities like Swift and Kelce, donations for the family of Lopez-Galvan, the lone fatality, and other victims poured in immediately after the shootings. Swift and Kelce donated $100,000 each. With the help of an initial $200,000 donation from the Kansas City Chiefs, the United Way’s #KCStrong campaign took off, reaching $1 million in the first two weeks and sitting at $1.2 million now.
Six verified GoFundMe funds were established. One solely for the Lopez-Galvan family has collected over $406,000. Smaller ones were started by a local college student and Swift fans. Churches have also stepped up, and one local coalition had raised $183,000, money set aside for Lopez-Galvan’s funeral, counseling services for five victims, and other medical bills from Children’s Mercy Kansas City hospital, said Ray Jarrett, executive director of Unite KC.
Money for Victims Rolls In
Donations poured in for those injured at the Super Bowl Parade in Kansas City after the Feb. 14 shootings. The largest, starting with a $200,000 donation from the Kansas City Chiefs, is at the United Way of Greater Kansas City. Six GoFundMe sites also popped up, due in part to $100,000 donations each from Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. Here’s a look at the totals as of March 12.United Way#KCStrong: $1.2 million.Six Verified GoFundMe AccountsLisa Lopez-Galvan GoFundMe (Taylor Swift donated): $406,142Reyes Family GoFundMe (Travis Kelce donated): $207,035Samuel Arellano GoFundMe: $11,896Emily Tavis GoFundMe: $9,518Cristian Martinez’s GoFundMe for United Way: $2,967Swifties’ GoFundMe for Children’s Mercy hospital: $1,060ChurchesResurrection (Methodist) “Victims of Violence Fund”: $53,358‘The Church Loves Kansas City’: $183,000
Meanwhile, those leading the efforts found models in other cities. The United Way’s Blubaugh called counterparts who’d responded to their own mass shootings in Orlando, Florida; Buffalo, New York; and Newtown, Connecticut.
“The unfortunate reality is we have a cadre of communities across the country who have already faced tragedies like this,” Blubaugh said. “So there is an unfortunate protocol that is, sort of, already in place.”
#KCStrong monies could start being paid out by the end of March, Blubaugh said. Hundreds of people called the nonprofit’s 211 line, and the United Way is consulting with hospitals and law enforcement to verify victims and then offer services they may need, she said.
The range of needs is staggering — several people are still recovering at home, some are seeking counseling, and many weren’t even counted in the beginning. For instance, a plainclothes police officer was injured in the melee but is doing fine now, said Police Chief Stacey Graves.
Determining who is eligible for assistance was one of the first conversations United Way officials had when creating the fund. They prioritized three areas of focus: first were the wounded victims and their families, second was collaborating with organizations already helping victims in violence intervention and prevention and mental health services, and third were the first responders.
Specifically, the funds will be steered to cover medical bills, or lost wages for those who haven’t been able to work since the shootings, Blubaugh said. The goal is to work quickly to help people, she said, but also to spend the money in a judicious, strategic way.
“We don’t have a clear sightline of the entire landscape that we’re dealing with,” Blubaugh said. “Not only of how much money do we have to work with, but also, what is the landscape of need? And we need both of those things to be able to make those decisions.”
Firsthand Experience of Daily Kansas City Violence
Jason used his lone remaining sick day to stay home with Bridget and Gabriella. An overnight automation technician, he is the family’s primary breadwinner.
“I can’t take off work, you know?” he said. “It happened. It sucked. But it’s time to move on.”
“He’s a guy’s guy,” Bridget interjected.
On Jason’s first night back at work, the sudden sound of falling dishes startled Bridget and Gabriella, sending them into each other’s arms crying.
“It’s just those moments of flashbacks that are kicking our butts,” Bridget said.
Tell Us About Your Experience
We are continuing to report on the effects of the parade shooting on the people who were injured and the community as a whole. Do you have an experience you want to tell us about, or a question you think we should look into? Message KCUR’s text line at (816) 601-4777. Your information will not be used in an article without your permission.
In a way, the shooting has brought the family closer. They’ve been through a lot recently. Jason survived a heart attack and cancer last year. Raising a teenager is never easy.
Bridget can appreciate that the bullet lodged in her backpack, narrowly missing her, and that Gabriella’s legs were burned by sparks but she wasn’t shot.
Jason is grateful for another reason: It wasn’t a terrorist attack, as he initially feared. Instead, it fits into the type of gun violence he’d become accustomed to growing up in Kansas City, which recorded its deadliest year last year, although he’d never been this close to it before.
“This crap happens every single day,” he said. “The only difference is we were here for it.”
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
Subscribe to KFF Health News’ free Morning Briefing.
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Brussels Sprouts vs Broccoli – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing sprouts to broccoli, we picked the sprouts.
Why?
First let’s note that we have an interesting comparison today, because these two plants are the exact same species (and indeed, also the exact same species as cabbage, cauliflower. and kale)—just a different cultivar. All of these plants and more are simply cultivars of Brassica oleracea.
Them being the same species notwithstanding, there are nutritional differences:
In terms of macros, sprouts have slightly more protein, carbohydrates, and fiber, whereas broccoli has slightly more water weight. An easy win for sprouts here.
In the category of vitamins, sprouts have more of vitamins A, B1, B3, B6, C, E, and K, while broccoli has more of vitamins B2 and B5. Another easy win for sprouts.
When it comes to minerals, sprouts again lead with more copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, and potassium, while broccoli has more calcium and selenium.
A note on oxalates: while oxalates are not a problem for most people, it is important to be mindful of them if one has kidney problems. You may know that spinach (a fellow green vegetable high in vitamins and minerals, as well as being a fellow oleracea, albeit of a different genus, so not the same species for once) is high in oxalates, but these two Brassica oleracea we compared today are amongst the lowest in oxalates (source 1 | source 2), making them an ideal way to get vitamins, minerals, and fiber on an oxalate-controlled diet.
Since both are also high in polyphenols, especially kaempferol and quercetin, we’ll mention that sprouts have more lignans while broccoli has more flavonoids. In short: they’re both very good, just different.
As ever, enjoy both! But if you’re going to pick one for total best nutritional density, it’s sprouts.
Want to learn more?
You might like to read:
Sprout Your Seeds, Grains, Beans, Etc ← sprout your Brassica oleracea, too!
Take care!
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Scars? How To Minimize & Heal Them
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It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!
Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!
In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!
As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!
So, no question/request too big or small 😎
❝I had a surgery 7 months ago, and while everything is healed there’s more of a raised scar than I’d like, is there anything better than just moisturizes that will actually reduce it?❞
First of all: congratulations on your presumably successful surgery, and your good healing since!
Scar management/reduction is mostly a matter of helping your body to heal itself, except for the most extreme cases. We will assume yours is not one of the extreme cases, and as such we are discounting the possibility of a revisional surgery being on your to-do list, and will focus on gentler approaches.
With that in mind…
First, limit any further scarring
By this we don’t mean “avoid future surgeries and injuries”, though of course, also do that if reasonably possible. But we do mean:
Yes, moisturize first and moisturize often.
The reason this is important is because scar tissue loses water faster than normal tissue, and tissue that is not hydrated properly cannot function properly and certainly cannot heal properly.
As for what moisturizer is best for this: something that’s actually hydrating.
So, put aside the coconut oil, the castor oil, or anything else like that. Instead, opt for a moisturizer that has:
- water as its main ingredient
- glycerin and urea high on the list after water
As usual, we’re not just saying things; there has been research done about this, for example:
The top-scoring moisturizer in that study, by the way, was Eucerin Advanced Repair Cream ← you can get it on Amazon if you want some 😎
Next, encourage your body to heal itself
Your body is an incredibly efficient organism. It might not always feel like it, but it is!
However, this efficiency can sometimes manifest as a sort of thriftiness, that is to say, your body usually won’t voluntarily do more than it thinks necessary; it has its own idea of what is “good enough”, and after that point, it won’t “waste” further resources on it unless you give it a reason to.
We see this with muscle-building, for example. Your body will not put on more muscle in a given place unless you are exerting that muscle sufficiently that the body thinks “hmm, we need more muscle there”.
When it comes to scar healing, the same principle applies. So far as the body is concerned, “we’ve closed the wound, you’re not bleeding, there is no further chance of infection, it doesn’t hurt, what more do you want from me?”
So, it will be necessary to provoke the body into getting back into “healing things” mode.
So, paradoxically, it will be necessary to create a perceived threat for the body to respond to. Options include:
- Microneedling / dermarolling: these are basically the same thing, except that the former is automated and the latter is manual. It pokes many very tiny holes in the skin; the body detects this and shifts back into “healing this bit” mode. Here’s an example microneedling kit on Amazon, and here’s a dermaroller if you prefer a low-tech approach.
- Phototherapy: includes red light therapy (RLT), which there’s a lot of science for in terms of how it promotes wound healing and stimulates collagen production; we’ve written about it before, here. However, while previously we recommended a RLT mask, that’s probably not a good option unless the scar is on your face, so you might consider a red light therapy mat, instead. That link’s for quite a deluxe one; if you want something smaller and cheaper, then perhaps this one. Laser therapy may also be an option (works exactly the same way as RLT, but is more localized and more intense), but for safety reasons that’s more of an in-salon thing, so you might want to check with local salons to see what’s available. Honestly, unless you want to throw a lot of money at salon sessions, an at-home RLT kit (even if springing for an expensive one) is the more economic choice for most people, as a “buy it once and then it’s yours” option, rather than the more ongoing “pay every time” situation of “give a salon a financial incentive to never quite finish treating you”.
- Retinoids: these promote (to varying degrees, depending on which you opt for) localized inflammation, which in turn promotes more rapid skin cell turnover, and thus, more rapid skin repair. There are a variety of options here, so here’s a guide for choosing the one that’s best for you: Retinoids: Retinol vs Retinal vs Retinoic Acid vs..?
- Topical vitamin C: if you use this and a retinoid, it’s usually recommended to use vitamin C in the morning and the retinoid in the evening, as they don’t go well together, and since retinoids temporarily increase photosensitivity, it’s best to use that one at night. If you use it alone, you might want to do it at night, for reasons covered amongst the professional tips shared in: Is Vitamin C Worth The Hype?
- Collagen supplementation: assuming you’re not vegetarian/vegan, collagen supplementation may be worth considering. If you are vegetarian/vegan, don’t worry, your body can make its own collagen; you’ll just want to make sure you’re taking extra care to give your body plenty of the things it needs to do that, so check out: The Best Foods For Collagen Production
You may be wondering about silicon sheets, and topical collagen:
- Silicon sheets have drawbacks as mentioned in the study we linked in the first part
- As for topical collagen, we could find no strong science to support its use: Are Collagen Molecules Too Big To Be Absorbed?
Take care, and happy healing!
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Seeds: The Good, The Bad, And The Not-Really-Seeds!
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It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!
Have a question or a request? You can always hit “reply” to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom!
In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!
As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!
So, no question/request too big or small
❝Doctors are great at saving lives like mine. I’m a two time survivor of colon cancer and have recently been diagnosed with Chron’s disease at 62. No one is the health system can or is prepared to tell me an appropriate diet to follow or what to avoid. Can you?❞
Congratulations on the survivorship!
As to Crohn’s, that’s indeed quite a pain, isn’t it? In some ways, a good diet for Crohn’s is the same as a good diet for most other people, with one major exception: fiber
…and unfortunately, that changes everything, in terms of a whole-foods majority plant-based diet.
What stays the same:
- You still ideally want to eat a lot of plants
- You definitely want to avoid meat and dairy in general
- Eating fish is still usually* fine, same with eggs
- Get plenty of water
What needs to change:
- Consider swapping grains for potatoes or pasta (at least: avoid grains)
- Peel vegetables that are peelable; discard the peel or use it to make stock
- Consider steaming fruit and veg for easier digestion
- Skip spicy foods (moderate spices, like ginger, turmeric, and black pepper, are usually fine in moderation)
Much of this latter list is opposite to the advice for people without Crohn’s Disease.
*A good practice, by the way, is to keep a food journal. There are apps that you can get for free, or you can do it the old-fashioned way on paper if prefer.
But the important part is: make a note not just of what you ate, but also of how you felt afterwards. That way, you can start to get a picture of patterns, and what’s working (or not) for you, and build up a more personalized set of guidelines than anyone else could give to you.
We hope the above pointers at least help you get going on the right foot, though!
❝Why do baked goods and deep fried foods all of a sudden become intolerable? I used to b able to ingest bakery foods and fried foods. Lately I developed an extreme allergy to Kiwi… what else should I “fear”❞
About the baked goods and the deep-fried foods, it’s hard to say without more information! It could be something in the ingredients or the method, and the intolerance could be any number of symptoms that we don’t know. Certainly, pastries and deep-fried foods are not generally substantial parts of a healthy diet, of course!
Kiwi, on the other hand, we can answer… Or rather, we can direct you to today’s “What’s happening in the health world” section below, as there is news on that front!
We turn the tables and ask you a question!
We’ll then talk about this tomorrow:
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Dandelions Greens vs Spirulina – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing dandelion greens to spirulina, we picked the dandelions.
Why?
In the battle of “plant that grows in your yard if you don’t spray weedkiller” vs “expensive health food”, it wasn’t close.
In terms of macros, the only noteworthy difference is that dandelion greens have more than 7x the fiber, winning.
In the category of vitamins, dandelion greens have a lot more of vitamins A, B6, B7, B9, C, E, K, and choline, while spirulina has more of vitamins B2, B3, B5, and B12. Thus, another clear win for dandelions.
When it comes to minerals, dandelion greens have more calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese. phosphorus, potassium, and zinc, while spirulina has more copper and selenium. One more easy win for dandelions.
In the category of beneficial phytochemicals, dandelion greens win hands-down by virtue of spirulina not being a plant and thus not having phytochemicals (phyto- means “plant”), but even if it weren’t for that, dandelion greens are one of the richest sources of polyphenols around anyway. So, another win for dandelions.
Adding up the sections makes for an overwhelming win for dandelion greens, but by all means enjoy either or both; diversity is good!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
21 Most Beneficial Polyphenols & What Foods Have Them
Enjoy!
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