I was sitting silently at the corner of our room on this hot sunny day. Outside was 31°C, while it was around 18°C in our small space occupied by arm chairs and eager students (I suppose).
Our professor's voice entered my left ear and exited the right. There was a silent trail of thought that caught my attention.
Peanut butters.
"Who among you knows what an aflatoxin is?"
Written in our handouts were these words:
-causes liver cancer
It was vague to us students. After a minute, he decided to break the silence.
"Aflatoxins are toxins you find in peanuts. It's like a mold that grows and when digested in high amounts, hello liver cancer!"
The thought was disturbing, so I browsed the net and read about it.
Peanuts.
To start off, peanuts are not nuts, well, in a botanical sense. It is an example of a simple, dry fruit that, when ripe, split along both sides. In short - they are legumes. It is called a PEANUT because it's a pea (in a legume sense) but it looks like a nut.Other peanut terms: earthnuts, goobers, goober peas, pindas, jack nuts, pinders, manila nuts and monkey balls. Haha!
Aflatoxin.
This is a poisonous substance produced by a fungus (species of Aspergillus), and are carcinogenic (cancerous).
These fungus can contaminate grains before harvest or even during storage. Prolonged exposure to high humidity environment, or even high temperatures can lower the barrier of the grain to protect itself from being damaged.
Aspergillus live in the soil, old decaying vegetation, rotten grains and hays. It will invade all kinds of organic materials or substances, just as long as the conditions are favorable to its growth.
Bad news: roasting process cannot destroy them.
There has been a research that peanut farmers are found to have high rate of cancer. A study that was recently conducted resulted to a discovery of presence of highest levels of aflatoxin are in health food store ground fresh peanut butters!
What aflatoxin can do to you.
If we consume too much aflatoxin, our liver cells would die, the it would have scars that would eventually lead to liver cancer - and our livers would bleed! Since the liver is very essential, damage to it would also lead to improper aborption and metabolism or nutrients, altered digestion, and eventually dead.
The good news: we have high tolerance for aflatoxin!
You can always go to the doctor and they could do some test on you to detect aflatoxin exposure.
This information does not say that we should stop eating peanut butters - or peanuts. Consume moderately, and be aware of where your peanuts are coming from. =D
Reference:
Wikipedia
Andrew Weil, M.D.
Delicious Organics
