Some super cool research was just published outlining the most nutrient dense foods on the planet and this has been studied before however, this specific info is unique because it takes bioavailability into account and bioavailability is just a fancy way of saying…absorbed and this matters because…
There are lots of foods that have a ton of nutrients in them but due to various factors, a lot of these nutrients aren’t all that accessible to us as humans, for example…
Spinach has a fair bit of calcium in it, but spinach also contains something called phytic acid which inhibits the absorption of calcium in the gut and so in order to get the equivalent amount of bioavailable calcium that a single glass of milk has, you’d have to eat roughly 8 cups of spinach…which is not all that practical because 8 cups of spinach is probably going to mess with your digestion big time!
I’m not saying that you should never eat spinach again, it’s just not a great source of calcium specifically and so the way that I like to think about bioavailability is via your total income vs. your take-home income…
The total amount of calcium in spinach would represent your total income and the amount that you actually absorb would be your take-home income after taxes. The total amount matters of course, but the take-home is what we’re really interested in and when it comes to calcium, spinach has a very high tax rate, whereas dairy has a much lower tax rate.
So, this list that we’re going to go through in this episode is great because it takes bioavailability into account, which is super cool because we’re interested in take-home income meaning, how many of these nutrients am we actually absorbing and utilizing!
I’m going to go through the top 10 foods and then I’m going to outline how I’d recommend actually implementing them into your diet because the idea isn’t that you solely eat these 10 foods, that’s not my recommendation, so we’ll dig into how to practically use this info in your diet as well.
Let’s dig in…
The way that the researchers scored different foods was like golf, so the lower the score, the higher the nutrient density and the number one food on the planet is regards to nutrient density and bioavailability was…liver, it clocked in at a 14!
Pretty interesting right!? Liver is loaded with fat soluble vitamins like vitamin A, D, E and K, it’s got B12, it has folic acid, copper, iron, it is a nutrient powerhouse…some folks refer to liver as ‘natures multivitamin.’
A quick bit of liver myth busting…
A lot of folks believe that the liver is where toxins are ‘stored’ and that’s not actually true…the liver acts as a neutralizer or a converter essentially, so it doesn’t store drugs, toxins, poisons etc. it simply reshapes or moulds them into forms that the body can more readily deal with and excrete, meaning…you don’t need to worry about eating something like beef liver because there are a whole bunch of toxins in it, fortunately that’s not the case.
Having said that, just because some of something is good doesn’t mean that more is better, so don’t go scarfing down endless amounts of liver, ya don’t wanna do that and I’ll tell ya why in the practical implementation part of this episode.
Number 2 is another interesting body part, spleen…not all that appetizing to a lot of folks, but the data is what the data is and spleen was rated at a 62…so liver was a 14 and spleen was a 62.
Number 3 is small dried fish, so things like anchovies or sardines would fall under this category and they were right on the coattails of spleen at a 65, super nutrient dense!
Behind small dried fish we’ve got some veggies in the mix, dark leafy greens clocked in at a 71 in the 4thspot…so stuff like bok choy, arugula, lettuces, broccoli and kale.'
Number 5 were something called Bivalves and Bivalves is just another word for seafood like oysters, clams, mussels and scallops…super nutrient dense foods and they were a 90 on the nutrient density scale.
Number 6 was kidney and number 7 was heart, so as you can see we’ve got a lot of organ meats in the top 10! They are without a doubt the most nutrient dense foods in the world, but unfortunately they’re somewhat out of vogue at least in North America…not super common to see organ meats on folks plates nowadays.
I’m in Playa Del Carmen Mexico right now and I found a taco spot that does all sorts of different cuts, so I’ve had spleen tacos, brain tacos, eyeball tacos (not my favourite texture) tongue tacos…tongue is one of my favourites, I know it sounds odd, but the taste and texture is amazing when it’s cooked…and keep in mind, these foods may sound strange to you, but only because of culture!
If you grew up eating these foods, it’s just food and don’t think for a second that our ancestors didn’t eat ‘nose to tail’ meaning the whole animal…eating solely chicken breast as a meat source is an incredibly new concept evolutionarily speaking.
Number 8 is crustaceans and you might be thinking…what’s with this funky language and what the hell is a crustacean!? Being that this is a scientific paper, they used the quote unquote ‘proper’ verbiage and crustaceans refer to things like shrimp, lobster and crab and these were a 193 on the nutrient scale.
Number 9 was goat…goat is delicious by the way, I had a goat curry not too long ago and YUM!! Number 10 was beef and just for good measure we’ll cover number 11 and 12 as a bonus…
In the 11th spot we have eggs, eggs were a 279…a great score and number 12 were vitamin A rich fruit and vegetables, so things like mango, cantaloupe, grapefruit, carrots, squash stuff like that.
Now you might be thinking…where are all the media labeled ‘superfoods’…shouldn’t they be at the top of the list!? The answer is no because when you factor in bioavailability (absorption) a lot of the quote unquote ‘superfoods’ just don’t register all that high. The reason being is…
Animals defend themselves via running away, fighting back, biting, clawing etc. and so once an animals defenses are down, they’re down…and as a result, they’re incredibly well digested and absorbed foods as a whole.
Plants on the other hand cannot run away, bite you or claw you and so they use chemical defense mechanisms in order to survive because they’re rooted in the ground…which only makes sense because if plants couldn’t defend themselves, they would have gone extinct millions of years ago, but they’ve actually been around for far longer than we humans have!
These chemical defenses that plants have often inhibit nutrient absorption to one degree or another (i.e. phytic acid in spinach) and fortunately we can sidestep some of these defenses via things like cooking, sprouting, fermenting etc, for example…some folks find that certain raw veggies don’t agree with their stomachs, but if they cook them, they sit much better!
There is a lot of intelligence and arguably even sentience in plants. They know what they’re doing, they are very much alive and they’re always responding to their external environment, even though they don’t howl or moo.
I’m definitely not saying that because plants have these chemical defense mechanisms that we should all avoid them completely…I eat plants, but again, we’ll cover more specifics in the practical takeaway section below.
Just for fun let’s touch on a few other super popular foods that we consume nowadays, where do they stack up nutrient density wise…?
Quinoa was 789 on this scale, so liver was a 14, quinoa is a 789…not quite as nutrient dense as we once thought when we take bioavailability into account!
Seeds…so things like hemp seeds, chia seeds, sunflower seeds were an 880.
Chicken was a 1075…we eat a ton of chicken nowadays and it’s not nearly as nutrient dense as a bunch of other protein sources which we covered…interesting right!? Again, I feel the need to mention this…this information doesn’t mean that you should stop eating chicken immediately, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater!
Whole grains, where did they land? They were a 1640…isn’t this fascinating…how often have you heard ‘you need to eat your whole grains.’ Whole grains is quite literally listed on the front of a ton of food packaging as if it’s a superfood…’made with 100% whole grains.’
Nuts…we love our nuts, they were an 1829…wild right!?
Where did refined grains clock in? Refined grains are essentially straight up processed foods, which are things like cereal, donuts, pastries and muffins…they are at the bottom of the barrel in the last spot…shocker…and they’re listed as a 4000+…meaning, that’s as high as the scale goes, refined grains are not very nutrient dense!
Again for reference, liver was a 14, leafy greens were a 71, eggs were a 279 and refined grains are over 4000!
I doubt that this is surprising to you, but it’s pretty wild to see it actually quantified and compared to the most nutrient dense foods we have access to…it really puts things into perspective!
We know that hyper-palatable processed foods aren’t healthful, but when there are actual numbers put to it, it’s crazy just how much variance there is between all of these single ingredient healthful whole foods that I promote all the time vs. all of the processed junk that we have such easy access to and we’re consuming in larger amounts than ever before…no wonder so many folks are struggling with their health!
It’s also fascinating to see things like nuts, seeds, quinoa and whole grains so far down the list and not that these foods are categorically ‘bad’ because they’re not, but the actual nutrition that we’re yielding from them is far less than we’d hope.
Interesting aside…I was on a flight from London to Mexico a few weeks back and I had the option of modifying my meal for the quote unquote ‘healthy version,’ which I did and out came a vegan sandwich with some nut and seed spreads, crackers and vegan fruit cake for dessert…
Then I looked to my left and the guy sitting next to me had a nice piece of beef with potatoes, the same nut and seed spreads and a little mini cheesecake or something for dessert…to say that I was so disappointed is a understatement…the regular meal was way more nutrient dense and healthier than the supposed healthy meal, WTF!?
I ended up asking for a regular meal instead because I wanted the beef and potatoes, but unfortunately they were all out and so I just didn’t eat because I knew that the sandwich, spreads and fruit cake would not have sat well in my stomach.
Building off of this supposedly ‘healthy’ vegan airplane meal…you probably noticed that the top 10 has a lot of animal foods in it, 9 of the top 10 most nutrient dense foods or food groups are animal foods in fact and yet…in the western world right now vegan diets are being thoughted as this epidemy of health and if someone chooses to skip animal products for whatever reason that’s totally cool, to each their own, more power to ya, but…
The problem that I have with this is that it’s wrong. A vegan diet is not the most healthful diet because humans are not vegans…humans are omnivores and so the idea that eliminating all of these super nutrient dense animal foods in the name of health is exactly what you don’t want to do…9 out of the 10 most nutrient dense foods or food groups on the planet are off limits in a vegan diet and so…how could it be the most healthful way to eat…that makes no sense!
In my opinion, everyone should be able to choose what they put in their bodies, I believe that very strongly, but misleading the public in terms of what the most healthful way of eating actually is…that’s not cool!
Now…if you’re feeling a bit little conflicted because of all the media claims in regards to animal husbandry, ethics, the climate and health or you’re just interested in truly educating yourself on the big picture when it comes to this stuff…
I’d highly recommend a book called Sacred Cow by Diana Rodgers, it is amazing, she is doing incredible work and there is also a video documentary version where she tackles the ethics, the health and the climate considerations all in one place and how they intersect. This is the most important thing because we can’t silo and separate these concepts because they all exist together…it’s called the circle of life for a reason, it’s not the compartments of life…this stuff is all linked!
Interesting side note…beyond meat which you may have heard of is a plant-based quote unquote ‘meat’ alternative and I say that because it’s straight up processed food…they are in some trouble because they got caught lying about the protein content in their products. Apparently, they were off by as much 40%...that’s a lot!
Also, they’re in some hot water over some of their ‘sustainability’ claims because it turns out that you can’t just say something is environmentally sustainable without having actual evidence to back it up and when they were asked to show that evidence, they weren’t able to do so…and that’s because fake meat isn’t sustainable.
It turns out that Mother nature kinda has this sustainability thing figured out.
As of right now, beyond meat has a 75% projected likelihood of bankruptcy simply because people aren’t buying their products, even with Kim Kardashian endorsing them…so in the end, the market is figuring this stuff out!
Practical takeaway time, how do you actually implement this stuff…
First of all, I’d recommend including more of these nutrient dense foods into your day to day eating pattern, but…like I alluded to before, just because some of something is good, doesn’t mean that more is better and you can think about this concept like sun exposure…
Sun exposure is SUPER healthy…too little is no bueno and too much is also no good, so if we take liver for example…it’s so nutrient dense that you actually don’t want to consume too much of it, that’ll create issues and so 3-6 ounces per week is plenty!
When I first implemented liver into my diet I was eating it raw and just swallowing it down, but recently I started tossing an ounce or two into my ground beef and you can barely notice the taste and so this is a great way to get some liver into your diet without offending your taste buds if you’re not a liver fan. Liver and onions is another way to get some liver in your life!
If organ meats are too much a stretch for ya mentally or you just don’t want to eat them, you can always just implement more of the other top 10 foods that you enjoy…you don’t have to eat organ meats by any means!
As a whole, when it comes to healthful eating and supplying your body with the nutrients that it needs, the number one consideration is digestion!!
Let’s take leafy greens as an example, they’re super nutrient dense, but similarly to liver, just because some is good doesn’t mean that more is better and so pay attention to your digestion first and foremost, meaning…
If you eat broccoli and it upsets your stomach and/or makes you gassy, ya might not want to eat it…on the other hand, if lettuces and things like arugula sit really well in your stomach, favour these foods!
Taking this to the extreme, some folks are allergic to shellfish and shellfish are really high on the nutrient density scale…but if you’re allergic to something, no matter how nutrient dense it is, obviously don’t eat it.
So ultimately, I’d recommend mixing in more of these nutrient dense foods that you may not already be eating with the caveat that your digestion is priority number one.
If you’re interested in checking out this paper for yourself, I linked it below as well as Diana’s book and documentary Sacred Cow…I’d highly recommend digging into that!
Also, if you have any questions about this stuff, I love questions, so feel free to reach out to me!
Nutrient Density Paper - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353426293_Priority_micronutrient_density_in_foods
Sacred Cow - https://www.sacredcow.info
