Oils & fats
Strong evidenceCod liver oil
A teaspoon carries 11 µg of vitamin D and 0.8 g of omega-3. It also carries 1,350 µg RAE of vitamin A — 45 % of the adult upper limit.
Evidence-based food & nutrition
What the evidence says about everyday foods
Nutrition, benefits and cautions for everyday ingredients — with how far the evidence actually goes.
- Evidence graded
- Sources included
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Ingredients to browse
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Fruits
Moderate evidenceWatermelon
4,530 µg of lycopene per 100 g — 1.8 times the raw tomato's 2,573 µg. There is a blood pressure analysis too, but it is not an analysis of watermelon.
Grains & legumes
Early researchAmaranth
A 16-week trial in Kenya. The porridge with amaranth carried 5.6 times the iron of the control. Neither hemoglobin nor iron status moved. In the same trial, a micronutrient powder giving far less iron did reduce anemia.
Fruits
Moderate evidenceBlueberry
Anthocyanins — the pigment behind the blue — are the compound that keeps showing up in vascular and cognitive research. A handful a day is the studied dose.
Vegetables
Moderate evidenceCauliflower
25 kcal and 4.97 g of carbohydrate per 100 g. Against cooked rice (about 130 kcal and 28 g per 100 g) that is a fifth of the energy and the carbohydrate. As a brassica, it falls within observational data linking cruciferous vegetables to lower cardiovascular disease and mortality.
Nuts & seeds
Nutrition dataSesame seed
Whole sesame carries 975 mg of calcium per 100 g, far ahead of milk. Hull it and the figure drops to around 60 mg.
Recipes
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60 min · 3 servings
Octopus and potato salad
Either pull the octopus out within a minute or simmer it over 40 — everything in between is the toughest it gets.
40 min · 4 servings
Beef and radish soup
Sauté the radish and beef in sesame oil first, and add the water only afterwards — the broth comes out a different colour.
25 min · 2 servings
Gim and brown rice balls
Cooking brown rice in excess water and draining it removes inorganic arsenic. Wrap the gim at the last moment or it goes soggy.
15 min · 2 servings
Pear and cabbage salad
A salad that gets its sweetness without sugar. Slice the pear with the skin on and the fibre stays.
15 min · 2 servings
Black bean and green pea salad
In the same trial, black beans lowered LDL and peas did not. So this salad uses both — with more bean than pea.
50 min · 16 servings
Elderberry and ginger syrup
Raw elderberries must not be eaten. Always cook them, and pick out every stem. The honey goes in only after the syrup has cooled.
From nutrient to plate
NutrientsWhich ingredients carry each nutrient, and how much you need in a day.CalciumCarbohydratesVitamin DRecipesDishes built from the ingredients covered here, written around cooking that preserves nutrients.Papaya and cucumber saladKefir and berry smoothieQuail egg and spinach saladCompareIngredients people weigh against each other, set side by side on nutrition.Orange · KiwiKelp · Sea mustard (wakame)Apple · Banana
Latest articles
- Jerusalem artichoke benefits: bifidobacteria rose, short-chain fatty acids did not moveIn a double-blind trial of 45 people in three groups, bifidobacteria rose 1.2 log10 over 21 days. But the short-chain fatty acids that would carry that effect did not change, and flatulence rose significantly.
- Lotus root benefits: 44 mg of vitamin C in a root vegetableRaw lotus root carries 44 mg of vitamin C, 556 mg of potassium and 4.9 g of fibre per 100 g. But it is almost always eaten cooked, so you do not take that 44 mg across intact.
- Okra benefits: the meta-analysis was broad, and the doses span 320-foldA 2025 meta-analysis found significant falls in weight, fasting glucose, HbA1c and LDL. But the 12 trials it pooled used doses from 125 mg to 40,000 mg a day — a 320-fold range.
- Perilla oil benefits: the 12-month trial is real, and what it measured was a heel ultrasoundIn a double-blind trial following 52 people for 12 months, a bone resorption marker fell. But what was measured was not bone mineral density — it was a heel ultrasound — and there were 52 participants.
- Ashwagandha benefits: it works for sleep — and liver injury cases are accumulatingA 2021 meta-analysis of 400 people found improved sleep, a small but significant effect at a standardised mean difference of −0.59. The same paper's conclusion adds: data on serious adverse effects are limited.
- Chicory root benefits: stools went from 3 a week to 4 — and the researchers worked for the manufacturerIn a double-blind crossover trial of 44 people, 12 g a day of chicory inulin raised stool frequency from 3 to 4 a week. But some of the researchers worked for the institute of the company that makes that inulin, and the change is one stool a week.
