Paleo Foods

Learn from our ancestors?Learn from nature?

David Sands MSU Professor of PLANT PATHOLOGY

Even before Paleo times we looked carefully at food before we ate it.

Readings:

“Before the Dawn” Nicolas Wade 2006“Pandora’s Seed” Spencer Wells 2010“The Journey of Man” Spencer Wells 2004“The 10,000 Year Explosion” Cochran 2009http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HLA-DQ8

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From Pandora’s Seed by Spencer Wells

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Y

Paleo

Shift to cereal grains

The ratio of omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3 fatty acids in the Inuit diet is…

2:1 or 1:1

Our Western Diet ratio is 25:1

Omega-3 Fatty Acids…

An important nutrient to focus on in crop production.

High in some Paleo Foods

Re: The Paleo DietBy Loren Cordain

Colorado State Univ.

Basic Biochemistry of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids

(PUFA’s):• Natural constituents of animal and plant lipids• Long carbon chain with one end methyl group,

other carboxyl group

ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS

In the Western population is a chronic shortfall in

  consumption of omega-3 fatty acids, particularly

  those of marine origin, such as EPA and DHA.

0,00 0,20 0,40 0,60 0,80 1,00 1,20 1,40

Fatty acids Omega 3 (g/day)

Recommendation

Europe

Asia

North America

South America

Chile

Essential Fatty Acid Omega 3 Consumption

Source: Rev. chil. nutr. v.32 n.1 Santiago abr. 2005.

Why Omega-3’s?

I need omega-3

I need omega-3

Brain Cells

Omega-3’s Enhance Mental Acuity• Mice in maze

• Dogs (Trainability)

• People

• Our interest is in classroom performance

Camelina sativa• Romans used to eat the meal and burn the oil in their lamps• Oil of Olay and other cosmetics• It grows well in Montana• High in omega-3 and high in antioxidants (tocopherols,

mainly gamma)• We have high omega-3 peanut butter, beef, eggs, cheese,

milk, bread and salad oil • And if there is any left, it is biodiesel

Jet Fuel from an omega-3 crop?The camelina meal is 40% protein and 13% oilApproved for beef and poultry rations.Yum. Omega-3 eggs, and beef.

Omega-3 Bread

Omega-3 Content of Bread (Wheat Montana)

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Canola Camelina

Oil Ingrediant

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Development of camelina bread is a cooperative project with Wheat Montana Bakery

Culinary Applications

Focus on Gluten Free Crops/Products:

Gluten Intolerance:• 2 million Americans (at least) • 30 million people

worldwide• Most are HLA-DQ2 or DQ8

Celiac Disease

Normal

Intestinal Villi

Celiac

Intestinal Villi

Gluten is the seed storage protein in Wheat, Rye, Barley, and Triticale

Certain grassy weeds also contain gluten.

•A grain used by Native Americans 7,000 years ago.

•It has no detectable gluten.

•The Amazing Grains Cooperative in Ronan, Montana has 53 growers dedicated to producing this grain.

Our Research:New Gluten-Free Crops

Indian Ricegrass

Essential amino acid Indian Rice Grass

Wheat

Lysine 3.2 2.4

Méthionine 2.1 0.5

Threonine 3.7 2.8

Isoleucine 2.8 5.3

Valine 3.5 2.1

Leucine 7.9 4.6

Arginine 9.3 2.2

Histidine 3.9 1.2

Phenylalanine 5.8 4.7

% total Protein 42.2 26.8

Indian Rice Grass vs. Wheat

Montina Gluten-Free Flour

Is fortification needed in gluten-free products? YES!

Most oats are hulledMost oats are about 12 % proteinMost oats are not produced GFMSU released PrOatina, a nude oat with about 20% protein(Gluten Free Processors,Belgrade, Montana), produces and packages this GF product as a hot cereal and as a flour.

PROATINA : HIGH PROTEIN GLUTEN FREE OATS

Timtana• Timothy is a pasture grass• It is a favorite of horses• When we made flour from timothy seed we were

pleasantly surprised!• Timtana resulted, a high protein , flavorable,

gluten-free flour for baking.• Timtana is a stand alone flour for baking• Timtana is available now, processed and milled in

Belgrade MT, at MTGluten Free Processors

Type 2 Diabetes cases reported in US by the CDC

Something Has Gone Wrong…

1999

Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1990, 1999, 2009

(*BMI 30, or about 30 lbs. overweight for 5’4” person)

2009

1990

No Data <10% 10%–14% 15%–19% 20%–24% 25%–29% ≥30%

Diabetes

Obesity

CombinedCDC Data

Bohannen, J. 25 SEPTEMBER 2009 VOL 325 SCIENCE, 16-14-1617

Zinc addition to Turkish Crop - Wheat

Zinc deficiency

• In Turkey, 50% of the arable soils were found to be zinc deficient. The deficiency also occurs in Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Syria,

• Human symptoms of zinc deficiency include, geophagia, stunting, abnormal behavior- depression and violence..

• A penny is 98% zinc…

Seeds – A good place to start

Seed coatEndosperm

Plantlet

Nutrient and energy reserves

Man’s priorities for seeds

• Large seed, easy to harvest.

• Digestible protein with quick release of appropriate essential amino acids.

• No toxins.

• Soluble polymers.

• Acceptable taste.

• Long storage life.

• No rot, no rancidity of oils.

• Soluble fibers.

Plants’ priorities for seeds • Embryo must stay alive.

• Control dehydration - rehydration:

– polymerize all small hydrophilic molecules

– (starch, protein, cellulose, hemi cellulose).

– remove ions such as phosphate, Zn, Fe, from solution (Insoluble inositol hexaphosphate = phytic acid ).

• Store oils, in fat bodies.

• Feeding animals is

not on the list!

The Problem: Nutrient Poor FoodsSolutions:

1. No more empty calories2. More and better protein in grains3. Less Omega-6 and more Omega-3 oils4. Vitamins and Minerals5. More Fiber6. Affordable7. Oh!… Gluten Free and tasty!

Cereal-Based Diets, Egypt

Insects selectively eat the more nutritious plants.

They have lysine taste receptors

Take home lesson:

We have been breeding

against nutrition for

centuries.

The Breeder’s Dilemma: Yield vs NutritionMorris and Sands: Nature Biotechnology Sept. 2006

The Breeder’s DilemmaThe Breeder’s Dilemma

•6 Independent/Non-biased Evaluators•4 Rows/Variety (HL37-A1 was wild type)

•2 day Compiled Results of Grasshopper Predation•Conclusions- Recipes, anyone, for grasshopper soup ?

0

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HL19-EM1 1689-90 1691-92 HL37-A1

Wheat Variety

Ins

ec

t d

am

ag

e p

oin

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Grasshopper damage to high lysine wheat cultivars

WILD TYPE

The Selection Against Nutrition, A Conundrum

• Aphids, grasshoppers, rats and deer all have the ability to taste essential amino acids, and they selectively choose the plants highest in nutrition.

• Therefore: Plant breeders inadvertently select for the least nutritious plants because of animal predation.

• “The Breeder’s Dilemma” C.E. Morris and D.C. Sands 2006 Nature Biotechnology

Superprotein : Looks something like this. OR THIS

Superprotein Oh! No! The Devil Made Me do It

…the GMO Word!

Protein Lys Ile Met Thr Trp Total

Lactalbumin 9.1 6.2 2.5 5.2 2.2 25

Barley 3.4 4.3 1.4 3.4 1.3 14

Superprotein* 21.6 8.1 16.3 10.8 10.8 68

Percent of protein

* Designed supplemental nutritional protein, Jaynes ,Sands ‘84

Amylose

•Supercoils when heated

•Digested slowly (LOW GLYCEMIC INDEX-GOOD)

•Slow synthesis in seed

Amylopectin•Cannot coil

•Digested quickly (HIGH GLYCEMIC INDEX-BAD)

•Rapid synthesis in seed

STRAIGHT

BRANCHED

Starches

(Amylose, amylopectin) and seeds

The World Food Problem

Striga Research, Maseno, Kenya

Striga

Mean corn grain weight (kg)

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K1CR KSM2 KSM1 KSM3 KSM4 C2 C1 STKJIA

Treatment

Mean

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rain

weig

ht

(kg

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Comparison of Kenya strains of Foxy S

Experiment at KARI Expt. Stn., Kibos, Kenya, by Sila NziokiStrains collected by Ben Kanyenji and John Sands

C C

The search for the Perfect Nutritional Protein

SafeNon-allergenicContains all the essential amino acidsCompletely digestibleNeutral taste

PROTEIN

PINE BARK BEETLE

So what to do? MSU?Assess Montana’s principle crops for their nutritional value.Could we lead the nation in improving the nutritional value of:

Durum Wheat? YES By lowering the glycemic indexSpring and Winter Wheat? YES dittoPeas? YES dittoPotatoes YES dittoCamelina YES BY selecting for higher Omega-3 content.

This is not rocket science but It takes money )(OH GOOD)Cross-talk with nutritionists (NOT FUN-HUMILIATING)Market demand for enhanced nutritional foods (FACEBOOK?)A little bit of high throughput biochemistry (INNOVATION)

Agronomic drivers for enhanced nutrition in crops.

1. Striga resistance2. Stem rust resistance3. Saw fly resistance4. Roundup resistance5. Salt tolerance6. Nitrogen efficiency

The concept = Use valuable improvements in agronomic traits that improve

production as above, as an opportunity to piggy-back in some nutritional traits that would not otherwise be inserted into new crop varieties.

That way we get a two-for, better yields and better nutrition.

World wheat production: 225 M ha

ca. 25% of the surface is planted to varieties with genes for resistance to stem rust that are ineffective against

the new race UG99

Genetic landscape of wheat

Concept

• Farmers are subsidized for growing crops, nutritious or not.

• Continue to subsidize but only for crops with improved nutrition!

• More nutritious crops would give us health benefits.

• Subsidies to medical programs would go down.

“In the Future, the safest, most-nutritious food may well be:

organically- grown and genetically-modified.”

Example: P. syringae pv. atropurpureaLeaf Blight on Barley—Globally distributed

Checking wheat seed for infestation by

P. syringae on BCBRVB selective medium

P. syringae pv. atropurpurea is seed borneAnd seed transmitted.

Quantify number of biological ice nuclei and their T°C of activity

Crude samples lysozyme-treated boiled

Immersion freezing assay

Determine the abundance of bacterial and other biological ice nuclei in precipitation

Pseudomonas syringae ♣

P. fluorescens

P. viridiflava ♣

Pantoea agglomerans (Erwinia herbicola) ♣

Xanthomonas campestris pv. translucens ♣

INA bacteria

Gram – negativenon spore-forming

♣ epiphytic, some are plant pathogensIncitants of Frost Injury

Bacterial ice nuclei: the most active naturally-occurring ice nuclei

Warmest temperature of activity of some ice nucleation-active materials

silver iodide -8°C

pollen -5°C

forest aerosols (tree oils + iodine) -4°C

atmospheric dust -8°C

cristalline metaldehyde -0.4°C

Pseudomonas syringae -2°C

Seed for 400 hectares treated, planted, P. syringae moved in within 3 weeks. From where?

North central Montana, 1980

Bioprecipitation conceptSands et al, 1982, 1985Morris et al, 2004

epiphytic bacterial growth

aerosolization upward flux

ice nucleationenhanced precipitation

Conceivably bacteria via this cycle move down wind across a continent

Betts 2004

Fig 3. Difference in annual mean precipitation (mm/day) between simulations with and without vegetation: VEG - NOVEG.

Books • “Genome” and “The Agile Gene” Matt Ridley• “Nexus” and “Ubiquity”, both by M.Buchanan• “Mountains beyond Mountains”• “Guns Germs and Steel” and “Collapse” by Jared

Diamond• “A Short History of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson• “Before the Dawn” by Nicolas Wade• “The Journey of Man” by Spencer Wells• “Beyond Structure (The Structure of Scientific

Revolutions) by Kuhn

Barbed Wire

My barbed wire of DNAEncompasses and delimits me.With shortcomings written in code.Within these boundaries, I concoct a lifeOf opportunities and misconceptions,Encoded and scripted from a brief whim.Empowered hope embodied in double strands,Wound around each other like paired lovers..Transparent to light and yet,Their messages sometimes sorely visible,Randomly delivered by the postman of time.

DISCOVERY