Jerusalem Artichoke

[Guest guest]

Does anyone eat Jerusalem Artichokes? ,Only 115 cals per cup.

except: http://health./centers/nutrition_and_food/373

Excellent source of iron and thiamin, and a good source of potassium,

phosphorus, copper, fiber, vitamin C, and niacin.

<snip> best season is fall & winter

excerpts: http://www.answers.com/topic/jerusalem-artichoke

This vegetable is not truly an artichoke but a variety of sunflower with

a lumpy, brown-skinned tuber that often resembles a gingerroot. Contrary

to what the name implies, this vegetable has nothing to do with

Jerusalem but is derived instead from the Italian word for sunflower,

girasole.

excerpt: http://waynesword.palomar.edu/vege1.htm

The tubers of Jerusalem artichoke contain fewer calories than potatoes,

and they are especially high in vitamin A, the B-complex, potassium and

phosphorus. They contain the polysaccharide inulin instead of starch,

which is a nutritious food for diabetics and hypoglycemics. The

hydrolysis of inulin yields fruit sugar (D-fructose), while true

insoluble starch (amylopectin) yields D-glucose. [starch (amylum) is

actually composed of two polymers, soluble starch (amylose) and

insoluble amylopectin. Starch polymers are packed into membrane-bound

starch grains or amyloplasts within plant cells.] Sugars from the

digestion of inulin do not elicit rapid insulin production compared with

other starchy foods.

http://www.areclinic.org/articles.asp?ArticleID=64 & src=c (more about

use to

diabetics)

[Guest guest]

Hi Apricot:

Thanks for the question on jerusalem artichokes. I don't know the

answer, but your post has provoked me to rant(!)

Does anyone find wording like that appended below, from your

link, helpful? It is so typical of so many sources of information

about foods, especially that from people 'qualified as' dieticians or

nutritionists.

What bugs me about it? Well for example many people would want to

AVOID prolific sources of iron - males in particular - not eat more

of them. Second, is anyone in an industrial country likely to be

deficient in potassium? I don't think so. Third, my diet is loaded

with vitamin C, and nowhere remotely close to being deficient in

thiamine or niacin. Nor do I believe I need extra phosphorus or

copper, and I don't have any symptoms that suggest my diet is

deficient in fiber. So what benefit would it be to me to consume

more calories from this product and merely overload me more with

nutrients I am getting more than enough of already? Yet calling them

an " excellent source of ............ " seems to imply benefit.

When I last checked my nutrient intake I did note that the two things

I definitely would do well to get more of were zinc and calcium, and

perhaps some extra magnesium and vitamin D would be helpful. Does

this product offer any of these? They do not mention them.

So who cares about the ingredients for which jerusalem artichokes are

listed as 'excellent source of' in that write up? Eating more of

them would do nothing that I know of to improve my diet. Are there

other benefits? ORAC? Proven anti-cancer characteristics?

Demonstrated preventative capacity against heart disease, diabetes or

other common afflictions? Improved immune function? They do not

mention any of these.

So I find those kind of comments not helpful to me. It would have

been somewhat more helpful if they had stated them in terms of

nutrient content per hundred calories. (Or, even better, from my

viewpoint, in terms of percent of RDA contained in 1700 calories!).

But I suppose we will have to wait for another couple or so decades

before these people wake up to a CRON-type reality. SIGH.

: ^ )))

Rodney.

--- In , Apricot85 <apricot85@r...>

wrote:

> Excellent source of iron and thiamin, and a good source of

potassium,

> phosphorus, copper, fiber, vitamin C, and niacin

[Guest guest]

Hi Apricot:

Thanks for the question on jerusalem artichokes. I don't know the

answer, but your post has provoked me to rant(!)

Does anyone find wording like that appended below, from your

link, helpful? It is so typical of so many sources of information

about foods, especially that from people 'qualified as' dieticians or

nutritionists.

What bugs me about it? Well for example many people would want to

AVOID prolific sources of iron - males in particular - not eat more

of them. Second, is anyone in an industrial country likely to be

deficient in potassium? I don't think so. Third, my diet is loaded

with vitamin C, and nowhere remotely close to being deficient in

thiamine or niacin. Nor do I believe I need extra phosphorus or

copper, and I don't have any symptoms that suggest my diet is

deficient in fiber. So what benefit would it be to me to consume

more calories from this product and merely overload me more with

nutrients I am getting more than enough of already? Yet calling them

an " excellent source of ............ " seems to imply benefit.

When I last checked my nutrient intake I did note that the two things

I definitely would do well to get more of were zinc and calcium, and

perhaps some extra magnesium and vitamin D would be helpful. Does

this product offer any of these? They do not mention them.

So who cares about the ingredients for which jerusalem artichokes are

listed as 'excellent source of' in that write up? Eating more of

them would do nothing that I know of to improve my diet. Are there

other benefits? ORAC? Proven anti-cancer characteristics?

Demonstrated preventative capacity against heart disease, diabetes or

other common afflictions? Improved immune function? They do not

mention any of these.

So I find those kind of comments not helpful to me. It would have

been somewhat more helpful if they had stated them in terms of

nutrient content per hundred calories. (Or, even better, from my

viewpoint, in terms of percent of RDA contained in 1700 calories!).

But I suppose we will have to wait for another couple or so decades

before these people wake up to a CRON-type reality. SIGH.

: ^ )))

Rodney.

--- In , Apricot85 <apricot85@r...>

wrote:

> Excellent source of iron and thiamin, and a good source of

potassium,

> phosphorus, copper, fiber, vitamin C, and niacin