Top Seeds

KENNELS OF TRUTH » Seeds, like nuts, have seen their nutritional reputation rise in recent years. Gram for gram, they’re high in calories, but also rich in healthy fat, as well as a variety of nutrient. Many common foods that we eat – including legumes, nuts, and grains – are actually seeds. Many seeds (such as mustard, sesame, sunflower, safflower, rape and cotton) are grown for their oil. Some (such as anise, poppy, and pumpkin) are used as snacks and flavourings. Others (such as pear, orange, and apple) are too hard and tasteless to eat, though some people do eat them. Any seed consists of an outer layer that covers stored food, along with the embryo of a new palnt. Besides healthy polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, seeds are rich in vitamins, minerals, and fibre. They also contain phytochemicals, some of which have cardioprotective or anticancer effects. Since they comefrom plants they contains no cholesterol. Some seeds, notably sunflower, are among the best sources of vitamin E. flax seeds are rich in alpha – linolenic acid, a fat similar to the omega-3s in fish. Rape seeds, a relative of mustard from which canola oil is made, also contain alpha-linolenic acid, as do hemp (from the marijuana plant) seeds.

A FEW TIPS

• Some uses for seeds: Eat them as Snacks. Add them to cakes and cookies; use as topping for breads and buns; grind them for flour of fillings. Add to salads; sprinkle on hot or cold breakfast cereals.

• Seeds taste better when toasted or roasted. Toss or stir them over medium heat in an ungreased skillet (add a few drops of oil, if you wish), or roast them on a baking tray.

• If you buy ready-to-eat seeds, avoid the salted kinds, which are loaded with sodium.

• Since they are high in oil, most seeds tend to turn rancid at room temperature. So refrigerate or freeze them.

A SEED SAMPLER

Flaxseeds:- 59 calories and 4 grams of fat per table spoon. The best source of heart healthy alpha-linolenic acid. Whole seeds pass through the body undigested; buy them milled or grind them at home in a grinder.

Sesame seeds:- 55 calories and 5 grams of fat per tablespoon. Supply some vitamin E. iron, and Zinc. Essential part of many cuisines. Unground seeds come unhulled (with bran and thus more nutrients) or hulled. Ground seeds (tahini), sold in cans or jars, can be used like p-peanut butter.

Poppy seeds:- 47 calories and 4 grams of fat per tablespoon. Good source of calcium (127 milligrams per tablespoon) and iron.

Pumpkin seeds:- 75 calories and 6 grams of tat per tablespoon. Good source of vitamin E, iron, magnesium potassium, zinc, selenium, and fibre. Rich, peanut – like flavour, when toasted.

Sunflower seeds:- 8o calories and 7 grams of fat per tablespoons of the seeds offer 14 milligrams or vitamin, E, (93% of the daily RDA), lots of thiamin ( a E, vitamin), magnesium, iron, zinc, folic acid, plus 3 grams of fibre. Seeds can be toasted or roasted and ground for butter.

VAMPIRE BREATH

THE LUNGS LOVE IT » The active ingredient in garlic – allicin – could help prevent severe pulmonary hypertension, a dangerous narrowing of blood vessels in the lungs. In a study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, rats served garlic daily (the equivalent of two cloves for humans) didn’t develop the condition, even when scientists tried to induce it. Credit allicin’s ability to relax arterial tissue. The team’s next project is to learn if this property could help control cholesterol.