Stink Pee

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Veggie Surprise

For lunch today I had salmon and fresh asparagus. I marveled at how much better asparagus tastes raw or just lightly steamed. I used to hate asparagus. Now I realize that was probably because, as a child, I had only eaten it canned or cooked until mushy and the flavor was really strong. Since I am crazy busy this week I thought, “Hey, I’ll just do an easy newsletter on asparagus and maybe throw in a reminder about the benefit of raw foods.” After a quick search of my files and the PubMed database, I realized the assignment wasn’t so simple after all.

Basics: Asparagus is a low-calorie, high-fiber, gourmet green veggie. It is also a good source of a number of nutrients, especially vitamin C and potassium. (Potassium helps balance the sodium in our diet.) Asparagus has historically been valued as an herb with healing, cleansing and diuretic properties. Here are some recent studies:

Cholesterol. In this animal study, asparagus significantly lowered LDL cholesterol without lowering HDL. It also protected blood fats from oxidizing which is what makes them dangerous. LINK

Diabetes. An asparagus extract used in this animal study seemed remarkably effective at controlling blood sugar by improving insulin secretion. It also increased blood levels of antioxidants. LINK

Immune function. This laboratory study using blood that contained leukemia cells, found that an extract of asparagus improved immune function by increasing natural killer cells. LINK

Hangover. Asparagus apparently helps the liver process alcohol. The leaves are even better than the sprouts.LINKand more...

RUMORS: Periodically a viral email comes by touting asparagus as a cancer cure. I usually check Snopes.com about email scares and wild claims. They aren’t always right on health matters, but they do seem to have the Asparagus for Cancer idea about right. LINK. Given the study above on immune function, there may actually be a pony in this barn. Other researchers are looking at the connection. LINK. At least it can’t hurt to eat asparagus.

Stink Pee”…I learned that colloquial term from my southern husband, Bill (no, you smarty pants editors, I don’t also have a northern husband). Asparagus contains volatile compounds that produce a strong odor in the urine. It is a subject of some debate whether everyone produces it and/or if everyone can smell it. There is no question about it at our house and Bill will not eat asparagus and would prefer I didn’t. How to cook it. Asparagus is good when cut up bite sized and added raw to salads, wraps or even finely chopped in tuna salad. (Raw foods still have their own enzymes and thereby spare the ones our body would have to make.) I like my asparagus steamed but still quite crunchy with most of the benefit of raw. I do it like this: Boil water in a pan containing a steamer basket. Wash the stalks and discard the tough ends. Cut into pieces that fit in the steamer basket. Place stems in the basket and turn off the heat. Let it steam for just a minute or two. What could be easier? Serve with a squeeze of lemon or if you want to get fancy, hollandaise sauce.