Claims versus reality on selected food items

Here's a list of food claims taken from the internet. Pretty much everything on this list is a healthy food (to the extent that it can actually be digested), including the alleged bad stuff at the bottom.  But they're seriously overplaying their hand, with lots of erroneous "hype" statements about perfectly ordinary foods. You can't make sound judgments on the basis of wrong information, and you can't put together a good diet if you don't know what's in the food.  This combination of ingredients probably does NOT provide an adequate amount of complete protein, calcium, or Omega 3, even though the descriptions here might make you think that it does. There may be other inadequacies too. There's no source of Vitamins D3 and B12 so those will definitely be deficient.

BROWN RICE: Is a nutritious, wholesome staple food containing a sizable quantity of minerals. Its 8 amino acids are so proportionately balanced that it has the highest protein digestibility among staple foods.

Reality: The mineral content of brown rice is thoroughly unexceptional compared to other grains.

The amino acid balance affects the completeness of the protein not its digestibility, and brown rice is not that great in terms of either the quantity or quality of its protein. Its crude protein content of 8% is pretty low compared to other grains, and it's low in lysine.  NutritionData gives it a protein quality score of 75. That's a better score than some grains, but oats are a lot higher at 95 and quinoa is higher still with 106. Both of them have more crude protein than brown rice too.

There are potential arsenic contamination issues with the brown rice grown in some regions. Probably not enough to cause acute poisoning, but chronic exposure to low levels may cause problems.  Personally I wouldn't want to feed brown rice as a major part of the diet.

NutritionData: brown rice
Grain comparison chart

SUNFLOWER SEEDS: One, if not the most, nutritious and healthy foods to be found in the dried fruits sector. They have a high content of healthy unsaturated fatty acids, contain important nutrients like vitamin E, selenium, copper, zinc, folate, iron and phytochemicals, plus are a rich source of proteins and fibers.

Reality: Sunflower seed is technically a fruit in the botanical sense, but you won't find it in the dried fruit section of the supermarket because it's called a seed out here in the real world. Sunflower has a nutritional profile similar to tree nuts, which are nutritious but not nearly as magical as some people will tell you.  There's no logical basis for calling sunflower (or tree nuts either) "One, if not the most, nutritious and healthy foods" in any sector. Yes, they contain some good nutrients, but they're all high in fat so you need to keep an eye on the calories.

The "healthy unsaturated fatty acid" that sunflower is high in is Omega 6. This is not something to brag about, because both pet birds and their humans generally have too much Omega 6 in the diet already. It's Omega 3 that we need more of, and sunflower seed is very low in it.

Sunflower seed is very high in Vitamin E compared to other seeds and nuts. But Vitamin E is not particularly hard to get in the diet, and there are numerous other sources that can provide Vitamin E with fewer calories.

Sunflower is higher than average in some minerals and lower than average in others, but not particularly exceptional compared to other seeds and nuts.  The protein content is decent but not spectacular, while the fiber content is similar to other seeds and nuts. Phytochemicals?  Which ones? All plant foods contain beneficial phytochemicals and some bad ones too. The internet isn't indicating anything special in this department for sunflower seed.

NutritionData: sunflower seed
Grain/seed/nut comparison chart

ALFALFA LEAVES: Loaded with health-building properties. Their contents are not only balanced for complete absorption, but they help assimilate protein, calcium and other nutrients.

Reality: there is no natural food whose contents are balanced for complete absorption, because that's not how nature works. Plants don't want to be eaten and therefore they don't design themselves to perfectly meet the needs of plant predators. Alfalfa is more indigestible than most due to its very high fiber content. Instead of the complete absorption claimed here, its contents have lower absorption than many other foods.  There are certain mammals (mostly ruminants) who can do a fairly good job of extracting the nutrients, but it's considered to be a poor food source for poultry, with low useable energy and protein content. It also contains undesirable saponins that cause a number of negative effects in poultry. Its digestibility is probably even poorer for parrots than for poultry, since they don't have ceca to help them break it down.  See this FeedingFeathers Facebook discussion for more information. 

Alfalfa is one of those rare plants that contains a decent amount of Vitamin D, but it's the wrong type of Vitamin D for birds.  Alfalfa mostly contains Vitamin D2, which is almost useless to birds, and a negligible amount of D3, which is the form that birds need.

Alfalfa is a popular ingredient in non-professionally formulated pellets, "unpellets", and other foods that tout the naturalness of their brand.  A little bit of it probably won't do any harm, but giving a lot of it to a bird could be problematic.

Feedipedia: alfalfa
Horst et al

SESAME SEEDS: Loaded with minerals, especially high in calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium, and are so high in vitamin E that its oil or meal is often used as a preservative. Contains all amino and essential fatty acids known today.

Reality: Sesame seed does have a lot of calcium, with a favorable Ca:P ratio. But it's also 50% fat, so you're paying a high price for the calcium. The other mineral content is pretty average for oil seeds and nuts. A quick look at a nutritional analysis shows that it's actually very low in Vitamin E, not wonderfully high as claimed. Most oil seeds and nuts have more. 

The internet reports that Vitamin E is not a preservative.  As an antioxidant, it can help extend the shelf life of oils that are exposed to oxygen, and it is used for this purpose in cosmetics (but apparently not in food). Sesame oil does have a component with some preservative effects, an antioxidant called sesamol. Sesamol hasn't been studied a whole lot and its effectiveness as a food preservative is unknown. Citric acid is the natural substance that's widely used as a food preservative, and it's not on this list. 

There are hundreds of amino acids and it's unlikely that sesame seed has all of them.  There are only about twenty amino acids that are actually useful, and in general all foods are expected to contain all of them.  There are only two (lysine and methionine) that are particularly hard to get in a plant-based diet. Sesame seed is low in one of them (lysine), and NutritionData gives sesame seed a protein quality score of only 63. 

Moving on to the fatty acid claims, there are only two fatty acid types that are actually required in the diet, and one of them (Omega 6) is already oversupplied.  Omega 3 is hard to get in the diet and sesame seed is a poor source of it, with an Omega 6:3 ratio of 57:1.  The desirable range for the overall diet is from 3:1 to 1:1.

NutritionData: sesame seed
 

QUINOA: A perfectly balanced ratio of amino acids and is rich in vitamins, minerals and trace elements. 4.3% of those are Alpha – Linol acid, an essential fatty acid which is, otherwise, only found in fish

Reality: It really does have a nice balance of amino acids, and NutritionData gives it a protein quality score of 106.  It's 14% crude protein, which is pretty good for a grain but low compared to a number of other plant foods.  Almost your entire diet would have to consist of quinoa to get enough complete protein from this source alone. Mixing a little quinoa with other grains that have even less protein isn't going to make a major difference.

Its vitamin and mineral content is similar to other grains - it's nothing special in that department. 

They misspelled alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), and the statement that it is only found in fish and quinoa is way off base. This Omega 3 fatty acid is found in many plant foods, although most of them including quinoa don't have very much of it. Fish is famous for containing other types of Omega 3, not ALA. 

There's probably a source somewhere saying that ALA is 4.3% of the total fat in quinoa, which is close to the figure in the sources I looked at. But they're playing a numbers game on you, because quinoa is a poor source of Omega 3 not a good one. 100 grams of quinoa has 307 mg of ALA.  Compare that to the 22,813 mg of ALA in 100 grams of flax seed or the 17,552 mg in chia, which are good sources of ALA.

NutritionData: quinoa
Grain comparison chart

MILLET: A complete food, rich in minerals (especially calcium) and vitamins, particularly lecithin, which is important for the formation of healthy feathers.

Reality: There are no natural foods that provide anything close to complete nutrition all by themselves, and millet is further away from completeness than a lot of other foods.  NutritionData gives millet a completeness score of 37, compared to 45 for the much-praised quinoa, 49 for the much-vilified sunflower, and 43 for egg, the allegedly perfect food.

Millet is actually very low in calcium and the rest of its mineral content is unexceptional, although it tends to run a bit on the low side compared to other grains.  Lecithin is not a vitamin, it is a brownish-yellow fatty substance found in plant and animal tissues. Lecithin is not essential in the diet but it's a source of choline, which IS essential and is considered to be vitamin-like although technically not a vitamin.  NutritionData lists the best food sources of choline, and millet is not high on the list. 

Peanuts and wheat (which are both dissed by the source of these claims) are good choline sources; millet, not so much.  WattAgNet says that wheat-based diets will usually provide enough choline for poultry, and soybeans are also an excellent source. It also says that corn, with 620 mg of choline per kg, is not an adequate source. Millet has considerably less choline than corn does. Choline appears to play a role in feather pigmentation, but has several other functions that are a lot more important.

NutritionData: millet

DANDELION LEAVES: A rich source of beta carotene, vitamins D, B complex and C. They have a very high potassium content, as well as numerous other minerals, like the bone, nail and feather-strengthening minerals calcium, boron and silicon. Dandelion leaves are good for a sluggish liver, to remove toxins from the liver and gall bladder and to help cleanse the blood.

Reality: the statement that dandelion contains Vitamin D is wrong. Plant foods in general do not provide Vitamin D. Small amounts are found in lichen and alfalfa, and ultraviolet light can be used to make mushrooms produce a small amount, but that's pretty much it. I couldn't even find a vegan website listing anything but mushrooms as a plant source of Vitamin D. The only known plant that provides a meaningful amount of D3 is rimu fruit, which is not available to the world at large.

Birds make their own Vitamin C and don't need it in the diet, so it's not a sign of knowledge when you see a bird food site praising a food for providing it. The vitamin and mineral content of dandelion leaf is good but not exceptional compared to other dark leafy greens. Vegetables in general are expected to contain minerals (which may or may not be bioavailable) and be abundant in certain vitamins. 

Talk about using foods to detoxify the body is purest woo woo, with no science behind it. In any case it's dandelion root that's traditionally used for liver problems, not the leaves, and we don't currently know whether dandelion root actually does anything. Routinely consuming medicinal herbs is not desirable because it may cause more problems than it solves. IMO you should eat foods for their food value, and save the medicines for when you actually need them.

NutritionData: dandelion leaf

CARROT POWDER: One of the top rated vegetables, providing protein, calcium, iron, and the vitamins A, C, and B, the phytochemicals alpha carotene, p-coumaric, clorogenic acids and the carotene complex.

Yes, believe it or not there are people out there rating vegetables.  Different lists give different rankings, but the Nutrition Action Healthletter (which is one of the more extensive lists) puts carrots at #11 out of about 75.

Carrots are best known for their Vitamin A content, which is exceptionally high.  Otherwise they're fairly typical as far as dark green and orange vegetables go.  Kale surpasses carrots in a lot of ways. Kale gets the #1 ranking on most "best vegetables" lists so it's rather surprising that it wasn't chosen as an ingredient.

P-coumaric is an antioxidant and so is chlorogenic acid (note the correct spelling).  All fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants, and individual antioxidant types are not something to get particularly excited about.  Antioxidants are promoted as beneficial, but this hasn't actually been proved and Harvard says there is some evidence that they might actually be harmful. In any case, there's no way to avoid them if you eat fruits and vegetables, so chow down and hope for the best. 

NutritionData: carrots

NETTLE LEAVES: Helps the blood break down proteins, making it a natural kidney and adrenal cleaner.

Reality: The blood does not break down proteins - that's the liver's job. Even if the blood did this, it's not clear how that translates into a kidney and adrenal cleaner. This is a fine example of a detoxification claim that makes only one short statement and gets it wrong. Nettle leaf seems to be mainly hyped as a medicinal herb, but it is also considered to be a nutritious leafy green (as long as you carefully get rid of the stinging part). There are claims that nettle leaf contains Vitamin D which is not true, and that's probably not the only thing about it that has been overstated.  But nutritionwise it's probably as good as any other leafy green.

 

SPINACH LEAF POWDER: An excellent source of beta carotene, vitamins C, E and K, calcium, potassium, iron, sodium, sulphur, folic acid and oxalic acid. They contain more protein and chlorophyll than most vegetables.

Reality: It's quite well known that spinach contains a lot of calcium, but most of it is useless because the oxalic acid in spinach binds the calcium and makes it unavailable to the body.  So you know you're dealing with a poorly-informed source when you see them touting the calcium content of spinach, and it's worse when they also promote the oxalic acid that prevents you from absorbing the calcium as a good thing.  Oxalic acid actually does have some uses in the body, but the body can manufacture what it needs.  The high level of oxalate in spinach is generally considered to be a negative factor not a benefit. 

The rest of the vitamin and mineral  content is unexceptional. When you compare it to similar vegetables you see that spinach is higher in some things and lower in others. 

All vegetables contain some protein and some fat too, but the levels are pretty low and you shouldn't be looking to veggies as an important source of either one of these nutrients. Vegetables have more carbs than anything else.  All green vegetables contain chlorophyll, which is not expected to actually do anything for you unless you are able to photosynthesize.

NutritionData: spinach

PURPLE DULSE: A sea vegetable that is a natural source of essential minerals, especially iodine, vitamins, ions, sea salt and roughage.

Reality: There's one word in this statement that raises it far above the others in the unintended humor department, and that word is "ions".  What kind of ions - plutonium?  Since when is eating ions considered to be beneficial? 

This is apparently a slightly reworded version of the marketing hype for the Bernard Jensen brand of dulse powder ('a natural source of essential vitamins, ions, sea salt, iodine and roughage'), which has been mindlessly repeated on a variety of websites.  This hype in turn may be derived from the PotentSea website, which refers to potassium, zinc, and calcium as ions instead of calling them minerals like normal people do.  These minerals do have ionized forms, but ions are very unstable and glom onto a compatible substance at the first chance they get.  That's why these minerals are normally stored in a compound with something else in foods - for example calcium carbonate or ferrous (iron) sulfate.

Although there are some compounds that are completely indigestible (like calcium oxalate), the body is fully capable of breaking down the more desirable compounds into the form it needs. So you don't need to go around looking for ions to eat. 

The protein in dulse is only 56% available, which indicates that dulse is not the world's most digestible food.  They weren't kidding about the roughage - the internet says dulse is 33% fiber. That's very high compared to the plant foods we normally eat, and I couldn't find enough information to figure out whether this percentage is better or worse than alfalfa. Excessive amounts of fiber interfere with nutrient absorption, and levels this high are not desirable. It may be even less digestible for parrots than it is for humans. Food passes through a bird a lot faster than it does through a mammal, so they have less time to fight their way through this mass of fiber.

 

ROSE HIPS: Contain an extremely high amount of natural vitamin C, and are, therefore, a great antioxidant and strengthener of the immune system. They are also very rich in beta carotene, vitamin B-complex, E and rutin.

Reality: As mentioned earlier, birds don't need Vitamin C in the diet because they make their own. Rose hips aren't considered to be a particularly good source of anything besides Vitamin C, although as a green plant part it will obviously contain some other nutrients.  The value of rutin is debatable, and rose hips don't show up on the lists of the best  sources of it.  Buckwheat is the best source, so if you want rutin then go for that instead of fooling around with rose hips. Rose hips are not normally eaten, but buckwheat is considered to be an actual food.

"Strengthener of the immune system" is the sort of assumption that you see frequently on the internet. Don't take for granted that it's actually true.

 

ROSEMARY: A stimulant for the circulatory system and strengthen the nervous system. Used as a heart tonic, for respiratory ailments, gout and rheumatic pains.

Reality: This is a bunch of unproven claims that probably have little basis in reality. You're much less likely to be disappointed if you use rosemary as a spice instead of a drug.

 

CAYENNE AND RED CHILI PEPPERS: High in vitamin A, C, iron, calcium and contain vitamin G, B-complex, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and sulphur. It is a harmless internal disinfectant, increases the effect of other herbs, cleanses the blood, wards off and equalizes blood circulation, increases heart action but not blood pressure, and helps prevent strokes and heart attacks.

Reality: That's quite a string of unproven claims and general woo woo.  Capsaicin does help kill germs if it comes into direct contact with them, which may help reduce the risk of crop infections but isn't expected to do much for the rest of the body. But it is NOT harmless, because it contains toxins and too much of it is harmful.

There's no such thing as Vitamin G.  This is an obsolete term for riboflavin, which nowadays is called Vitamin B2. The term was used briefly in the 1930s and then disappeared. This information must be really old.

Like any vegetable, chili pepper is expected to contain vitamins and minerals.  It's probably not remarkable in any way apart from the way it sears the taste buds of mammals, but I haven't actually looked at its nutritional analysis.  It's normally consumed in much smaller amounts than other vegetables, so the nutritional details don't really matter very much.  You're not likely to eat enough of it to make a noticeable difference.

 

On the reasons for avoiding certain items:

SOY BEANS
There is more and more disturbing data found about soy beans and products. Soy beans in their natural state contain large quantities of natural toxins and there is data that soy is cumulatively toxic when fed to animals. For example, The PARROT SOCIETY NEW ZEALAND claims that soy products in bird food have caused such problems as immune system breakdown, failure of organs and multiplication of the birds’ own benign bacteria.

Reality:  For a number of years, soy has been the target of a propaganda campaign conducted by an organization that is "deep into the woo" and is widely suspected of being in cahoots with the dairy industry, whose number one marketplace competitor happens to be soy. 

All beans contain toxins in their natural raw state and soy is no exception. That's why most beans need to be cooked before eating them.

The pellets in the New Zealand case had been accidentally contaminated with a dangerous mycotoxin, but the propaganda spreaders chose to leave out this relevant detail and blame the problems on soy instead.  Soy actually looks pretty safe in the world of evidence-based information. It's been widely used for decades in food for both animals and humans (including human baby formula) without any noticeable problems. Check out this article for more information. 

 

PEANUTS
It seems that more and more birds develop allergic reactions to peanuts, so we view them as a great treat for birds that are not allergic to them, but not part of their daily diet.

Reality:  Actually the main concern about peanuts and parrots is related to aflatoxin contamination, not allergies.  Aflatoxin is a risk with pretty much any food that humans grow, but peanuts are more prone to it than most others. The problem is mainly with feed-grade peanuts that are not approved for human consumption. It's not possible to completely eliminate the risk for any food, but the peanuts that are approved for human consumption are pretty close to being risk free.

 

WHEAT
Wheat is a common allergen and contains about 80 different components that can cause a negative reaction. The number of people that are allergic to wheat and wheat products is raising daily in alarming amounts. If that is the case for humans, and we are not sure how it acts in birds, better safe than sorry.

Reality: The better-informed sources on the internet says that only 27 allergenic components have been identified in wheat, which is still a lot. The only "rise" in wheat allergy seems to be related to celiac disease and gluten sensitivity, which is by far the biggest category of wheat-related problems. It's not clear whether there has really been an increase or if we just have better awareness and detection methods now. It's also not clear how much of the problem is real, since there are currently a lot of people declaring themselves to be gluten intolerant without having any proof that this is actually true. We know how powerful the placebo effect can be, and changes in diet can make people think they feel better whether anything has really changed or not.

Feedipedia reports that "Wheat grain, particularly from soft varieties, is one of the main ingredients used in poultry diets, notably in Europe, Canada and Australia," making up 50-65% of the feed.  It has also been widely used in parrot pellets for several decades, and wild birds have been raiding wheat fields for thousands of years. So a lot of birds have been eating wheat over a long period of time, and both the birds and their human caretakers have generally found it to be beneficial.  Birds can be allergic to anything that humans are allergic to, of course.  But I can't find any indication that wheat allergy is considered to be a general problem in chickens, parrots, or any other bird.  If your bird is showing signs of a food allergy you need to use an elimination diet to try and identify the problem.  But if your bird does not have symptoms it's silly to avoid wheat "just in case". Every food has potential problems associated with it, and you'll starve to death if you try to avoid every conceivable risk.

 

Copyright 2017 Carolyn Tielfan all rights reserved