Here's An Extemely Interesting Research Report

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Hi All,

Have you seen this yet?

The researchers purified proteins from dry roasted peanuts and from raw peanuts. They introduced the peanut proteins to mice in three different ways - injected under the skin, applied to broken skin, and introduced directly into the stomach. The immune responses of the mice to further peanut extracts given later were measured.

The mice that had been initially exposed to dry roasted peanuts generated greatly increased immune responses to peanuts, compared to mice that had been exposed to raw peanut proteins. The types of immune responses seen are characteristic of allergic reactions.

http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-09-22-dry ... ut-allergy

Is that interesting or what? It brings to mind the fact that originally, our ancestors ate all their food raw. It seems that every time we try to improve our lot by the discovery and development of a technical innovation, we get into trouble. But we can't blame this one on humans, because according to the archaeological fossil records, the use of fire may have been adopted by a predecessor to humans, Homo erectus, during the Early Stone Age (or Lower Paleolithic), long before the first human (Homo sapiens) ever set foot on the planet. Whatever the history involved, now I wonder if we were still eating our food raw, if allergies would be a non-issue.

Tex

[Zizzle]

Don't we roast peanuts in part to prevent serious illness from aflatoxins?

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No, it takes very high temperatures to neutralize aflatoxin — temperatures that would destroy the peanuts. Strong bleach solutions will kill it, and there is a USDA-approved process whereby corn can be "cooked" under pressure inside a large pressure vessel in an atmosphere of anhydrous ammonia for many hours, in order to destroy the aflatoxin. The resulting chemical reaction process makes the corn safe so that it can be used to feed livestock under feedlot conditions. The process is not suitable for human food however, because the ammonia turns the corn black, which gives it an unpalatable appearance. It would presumably work the same way for peanuts.

Tex