I love almonds. Don’t we all? When I decided to start living a healthy lifestyle six years ago I started eating nuts and not just any nut…raw, organic, almonds. I’d order them by the five-pound case from our local food co-op and I’d make all sorts of raw creations from smoothies to flour.
Back then, raw and organic meant something. I was re-assured when I saw those words that I was consuming something good for me. I thought I was making smart decisions and I didn’t think twice. Back then, nobody had to.
But what if you discovered that when it comes to almonds, raw and organic aren’t synonymous with healthy – that raw really isn’t raw and the term organic is just a label left there to fool you into thinking the nuts you’re buying are safe. Did you know that the raw, “organic,” almonds you find in your health food store are toxic and could cause inflammatory conditions and cancer?
I know right? You’re not alone – that’s how I felt two years ago when I discovered that my precious almonds were switched out with mutant impostors. I actually discovered this by chance when I noticed the term “pasteurized” on the label of the almonds I usually purchased. How can something be organic, raw, healthy, AND be pasteurized? And why wasn’t I informed?
I immediately stopped eating almonds, but my “40 Days of Raw Food” challenge prompted me to seek out a better source. A girl can’t eat raw without almonds!
A few years ago after a salmonella scare was traced back to raw almonds, the USDA decided that virtually all raw almonds had to be pasteurized. Instead of addressing the environment that caused contamination, they attacked the nut. Pasteurization would eliminate the risk of contamination and by utilizing a special fumigation process – they could still be labeled raw. People have been deceived into thinking this process is safe ever since.
The truth is, pasteurized, raw, “organic” almonds are not safe and they’re not raw. Raw foods are living organisms that contain enzymes, a high nutrient content, and have the ability to sprout. Pasteurized almonds are dead almonds. They have little to no enzyme activity, poor nutrient content, and cannot sprout.
Here is a picture of “raw,” organic, pasteurized almonds that were purchased at a health food store. They were soaked and dried but instead of returning to their original color and crunchy texture, they molded within a few hours. If you do this at home you’ll see the same results.
Here is a picture I took of raw, organic, non-pasteurized almonds that were soaked and then dehydrated. This is how an almond should look after this process. It should be crunchy and be free of mold.
There’s another concern about almonds related to the pasteurization process itself. Almonds can be pasteurized with steam, high heat (roasting), blanching, or fumigation. If almonds are steam pasteurized or fumigated they can still be classified as raw (and organic). Steam pasteurization kills the living properties of an almond, breaks fat bonds and oxidizes these molecules into free radicals, and creates potentially harmful levels of acrylamide. Acrylamide (a byproduct of the amino acid asparagine) is a chemical known to cause cancer and reproductive harm.
Fumigation involves a toxic, dangerous chemical called propylene oxide. This chemical was used as a racing fuel until it was banned for safety reasons. It’s now used in thermobaric weapons, polyurethane foam, and is sprayed on your “raw” almonds. Propylene oxide is not generally recognized as safe for human ingestion (GRAS) per the FDA and even the EU has banned it’s use. Here’s an exert of the EPA‘s website on the so-called “safe” chemical your nuts are pasteurized with:
Dermal contact, even with dilute solutions, has caused skin irritation and necrosis in humans. Propylene oxide is also a mild central nervous system (CNS) depressant in humans. Inflammatory lesions of the nasal cavity, trachea, and lungs and neurological effects have been observed in animals chronically (long-term) exposed to propylene oxide by inhalation. Propylene oxide has been observed to cause tumors at or near the site of administration in rodents, causing forestomach tumors following ingestion via gavage (experimentally placing the chemical in the stomach) and nasal tumors after inhalation exposure. EPA has classified propylene oxide as a Group B2, probable human carcinogen.
If you read further down on the EPA’s website you’ll see a whole host of other side effects ranging from neuropathological changes to reproductive harm. Is this the type of chemical you want to expose yourself to?
Almonds are essential to a raw foods diet and highly beneficial for anyone looking to incorporate a healthy lifestyle. The good news is that you now know that raw and organic mean very little when it comes to almonds. You need to make sure the almonds you’re sourcing are organic, raw, AND unpasteurized. You might also have to get creative with your shopping.
In the United States you can only purchase un-pasteurized almonds from the farmer/grower via a roadside stand or legally online. I source mine HERE.
Hi I was wondering if the steam pasteurization in fumigation leads to almonds being safe for consumption? It seems so based on research I’ve done online.
Thank you!
any links for studies showing amount of acrylamide in steamed almonds…i cant find any
You do realize that true raw almonds will kill you. Cyanide in raw “bitter” almonds can make a grown man sick after eating 15 nuts. 50% will die around nut 50. You health nuts are just that. Nuts.
I’m still alive. So no … raw almonds will not kill you. Can you include a citation?
evidently raw almonds have been irradiated since 2007.
http://naturalfamilytoday.com/nutrition/pasteurizing-almonds-good-or-bad/
also they actually do contain cyanide, and there’s been a recall linked to it.
https://www.livestrong.com/article/494578-can-almonds-cause-cyanide-poisoning/
If the main cause of cancer is inflammation..
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2803035/
then to prevent getting cancer, you need to reduce inflammation…
and if almonds contain cyanide… and cyanide causes inflammation…
welp.
Inflammation is a symptom – a response to an underlying condition in the body. It is not the cause of cancer (though the cause of the inflammation could be the cause of the cancer). Pears contain formaldehyde, apples contain cyanide, the list goes on. Source your food properly, make sure your diet and lifestyle are on point, and your methylation is up to par.
Huge fan of almonds – the raw, unpasteurized, properly prepared kind.
You do realise that there are 2 types of almonds, and only 1 will kill you?
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=sweet+vs+bitter+almonds
I’m sorry you don’t care enough about yourself to be engaged in increasing and maintaining a high quality and long life for yourself.
This Ьlog was… һow do I say it? Relevant!!
Finalⅼy I’ve found something ᴡhich helped me. Chеers!
Thank you! Glad you liked it. 🙂
I didn’t know that about PPO, thanks for that comment. Also, I was told by an almond grower that raw almonds are DANGEROUS because animals may have pooped on them and if you just shell them without cleaning them with steam, they can pose all kinds of health issues.
Wow, there is a massive level of misunderstanding of basic chemistry here. Propylene oxide is highly volatile, meaning it boils at very low temperatures. Therefore, it is very hard to have residual propylene oxide left on a surface after treatment. (Ethylene oxide, a very similar chemical, is used to sterilize medical equipment that can’t be steam sterilized, like plastics and such). It also photo-degrades, meaning that it breaks down in the presence of light. Again, very difficult to have leftover chemical if it first turns to a gas and then breaks down in light.
http://jfoodprotection.org/doi/abs/10.4315/0362-028X-68.8.1613?code=fopr-site
Less than 30 parts per million detected. The following is MSDS data. The threshold to even smell it is about 35 ppm. Toxicity L 50 is 4000 ppm for four hours. Rat oral toxicity is 380 mg propylene oxide per 1 kg of body weight. You would have to eat more than your weight in almonds to get this level of exposure.
Just because the pure chemical gives cancer to rats doesn’t mean it is unsafe to use for food safety. Have you ever read the MSDS of water or oxygen? If you do, you’d never take a shower or breath again… You’re worse off breathing the smog filled air of a city than you are eating these treated almonds.
I’m guessing this won’t go public, since you screen your comments, but hopefully you’ll allow some science to prevail on your site.
PS I’m a PhD chemical engineer, working in academia (not for a chemical company).
Thank You ! people with your education need to be the ones who label “organic”
Educated people doing the labeling would be a huge problem for the “organic” food industry, because they would use the scientific definition of organic, which includes nearly everything edible that isn’t pure water or salt.
The information you give is educational. The only thing is, if almonds were the only things I would have to worry about when it comes to chemical treatment then I might say well maybe it’s alright for me. The thing is practically everything we eat is in one way or another touched by harmful agents. This is the evolution of our society today. More people are either dieing of or being treated for different types of cancer more so in our modern society then ever before. The reaonable explanation of this is the introduction of dangerous chemicals into our diet no matter how miniscule this might be. Keep in mind not just one kind of chemical but a barrage of several kinds.
For me, it does not take much education to reason on the prospect of what the combination of these chemicals are doing to us. Cancer too is just one side effect from these chemicals. So while we may not die of cancer what other harm are we doing to our bodies and our brains. What are we passing on to our unborn children which begins in the body on a cellular level, a level much more miniscule than a rat in a laboratory. As educated that you are, you must also realize that what might not effect one person may effect another. While we may be similar over all physiologically how we react to certain foods can be different in each one of us. Logically the same would be true with the ingestion of chemicals no matter how miniscule that might be. Some of us are more sensitive to some chemicals than others. We know this because medications also react differently in some people. Which coincidently some meds have trace amounts of the actual medication put into a pill that we can swallow.
Some may even reason that since these chemicals effect a small percentage of people it’s not enough to discontinue the use of them. What a disrespect for life!
Now I may not be able to help breathing in air pollution but I do have and should have a choice of what I put into my body when I eat (which air pollution is the byproduct of uneducation, willful stupidity and greed).
Bottom line is, no thank you to chemicals no matter how miniscule the amount may be.
actually, cancer now has the same prevalence, if not lower, than it did throughout history. The reason why a lot of people are dying from it now is that they live long enough to die from it. Cancer was also listed as “natural death” for a lot of history.
its also interesting that cancer has actually decreased in the US.
still the leading causes to cancer is inflammation and stress.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1994795/
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/265254.php
Highly educated, intelligent response vs someone’s curious and extremes fears in general? I’m sooooo confused. I bought a package of raw pecans from Amazon and it arrived with a label stating I must cook them first or extreme health hazard they would not be liable for. No idea what to do about them! But I’m leaning towards roasting them first but still afraid to eat them because they don’t tell me why!!???!?
Shhh, S. Your facts will confuse them!