Reader RS from Indiana writes:
“Hello barbel,
As a retired home economics teacher, I always enjoy reading your column. I always peeled the peel off apples because I was concerned about the chemicals that were used to spray the apples. Do I have to worry about that or am I being too careful? “
You could be too careful and miss out on some great health benefits. As I mentioned in a previous column, most of the healthy ingredients in fresh apples, including fiber and antioxidant compounds, are in or near the peel of an apple.
According to experts who recently took part in the Facts, Not Fear farm tour in the apple-growing region of the Pacific Northwest, all apples – both organically and conventionally grown – are safe to eat with the skins on. This is because improved cultivation methods have greatly reduced the use of many pesticides in recent decades.
According to the Alliance for Food and Farming’s Pesticide Calculator (safefruitsandveggies.com), a woman could eat 850 apples in a day with no pesticide residue affecting her health, even if the apple had the highest pesticide residue ever on apples the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Again, make sure to wash your hands with soap and water and your apples with plain water before eating this one good for you.
On another topic: I tend to go without all pumpkin this time of year. So I was intrigued to get a sample of a plant-based, vegan, and pumpkin version of marshmallows. This product is also GMO-free, kosher certified, contains no artificial flavors or colors, no corn syrup, no gelatin and no gluten and is free from the common allergens wheat, dairy products, eggs, corn, peanuts and nuts.
Which made me wonder – what’s in vegan marshmallows? I checked the label: tapioca syrup, cane sugar, filtered water, tapioca starch, carrageenan (an algae extract), soy protein, natural flavors, and annatto (a food coloring made from the seeds of the achiote tree).
Typical marshmallows are made from four basic ingredients, say food scientists – sugar, corn syrup, and gelatin, plus some air. Some manufacturers add natural and artificial flavors and colors, as well as tetrasodium pyrophosphate (TSPP), a food additive used in other products such as meat substitutes and toothpaste.
The gelatine does not make most marshmallows vegan, i.e. free from animal products.
Gelatine is made from the protein collagen, an animal by-product.
Interestingly, there isn’t a huge nutritional difference between vegan and regular marshmallow varieties. They’re both mostly made up of sugar (around 6 teaspoons) and contain 100 calories per serving of 18 miniature marshmallows.
What do I think? Marshmallows aren’t exactly a healthy food, but strict vegans who love marshmallows can enjoy this particular strain. (They cost twice as much as regular marshmallows.) I think my grandchildren would love them typing in their hot chocolate.
Barbara Quinn-Intermill is a Registered Nutritionist and Certified Diabetes Educator at the Monterey Peninsula Community Hospital. She is the author of “Quinn-Essential Nutrition” (Westbow Press, 2015). Email them at [email protected]
essentialnutrition.com.
