I recently took care of a patient who developed two cavities. He was shocked because he was convinced his diet was healthy. I was not convinced that his diet was totally healthy, and I was not shocked. The simple fact is that getting cavities (also known as caries) is very easy in western society. The two biggest culprits are smoking and processed carbs. I am not going to waste my time talking about smoking. It is terrible for you and you should not do it. I do want to focus on processed carbs. Hopefully, after reading this post you will be able to identify them more easily and avoid potential health risks.

The patient shared a bit of his diet with me. It did appear much healthier than the average diet for sure. It was gluten-free, and there were no overtly processed foods in it. There was nothing formal about my inquiry into his diet. He let me glimpse at his food tracking app. I saw a product called Sunflower Seed Protein, so processed foods were indeed part of his diet. I asked for details on the specific product, and he gave me their website address. I am not implying that this product directly caused his decay. I want to draw attention to the stealthy nature of how processed foods can enter the diet, and if enough of them make it in, tooth decay and other problems can arise.

Let's take a close look.

The specific product is called Sunflower Seed Protein by Sprout Living. I have nothing against this product or company personally. It seems like a superior product, but it is highly processed as far as I can tell. It is designed to be used in smoothies. Smoothies are another risk factor for enamel erosion and decay due to their acidity and the sugar liberated from the plant cells via the blender. (1)

Is it made from sprouts?

Since the company is called Sprout Living, I assumed the seeds were sprouted. Sprouted seeds are known to have higher protein availability and fewer antinutrients that interfere with digestion. (2) Their only claim is that they use cold-pressed nutrient-rich sunflower seeds. (3) I found nothing to indicate that the seeds were sprouted. On a positive note, the seeds are organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, grain-free, vegan, nut-free, and kosher.

Why are they cold-pressed?

Cold pressing seeds involves pressing the parent seed, nut, or grain at the lowest possible temperature without further pressing to produce an unrefined oil. (4) Why are they doing this? I can't be sure, but I believe they are using the waste seeds from sunflower seed oil production. They are crushed into a powder by the process. When I looked up the oil content of raw sunflower seeds, their fat content is over 56%. The fat content of the protein powder is only under 11%, making sense, as the oil was squeezed out of it. There could be other reasons. Read on.

Rancidity

Sunflower oil is about 45% polyunsaturated fat. (5) Polyunsaturated fats are unstable and oxidize, causing them to become rancid, which is a problem for sellers who want their products to remain stable. Reducing oil content could improve shelf life and keep the powder from clumping.

Omega-6/Omega-3 ratio problem

I have written about the Omega-6/Omega-3 ratio before. A healthy one is about 3. Sunflower seeds have a ratio of over 311! The powder only has 3 grams per 28-gram scoop, so it isn't as terrible as it sounds, but it contains very little Omega-3. (3)

Is it not just protein?

The protein powder is only 54% protein by weight. If one were to go by the name of the product and not look at the nutritional label, they wouldn't know that it is not pure protein. (3) 

 Plant protein quality scale

Protein Quality is dependent on having all the essential amino acids in the proper proportions. The scale goes up to 100. If one or more amino acids are not present in sufficient amounts, the protein in a food is considered incomplete and gets a lower score. Diets that are very low in protein or very restrictive in the types of protein consumed may not provide complete protein. (6) Sunflower seeds have a rating of only 88 out of 100, meaning you will have to eat other foods to get adequate protein. (2) When I looked up sunflower seeds on a site called Nutrition Data (Know What You Eat), they suggest, "Adding other foods with complementary amino acid profiles to this food (sunflower seeds) may yield a more complete protein source... ." (3) The foods they suggested adding were mainly animal proteins.

 I am not suggesting that we can't get enough from plants. If we eat a variety of plants and enough quantity, we can satisfy our dietary needs. (7) Animal proteins are higher in quality, but plant proteins can be adequate, given enough volume and variety.

Processed carbs: The Biggest Problem

The label says that it has three grams of carbohydrates. Therefore, 11 percent of the product is processed carbohydrate. Since the product is powdered, it is in the form of dense acellular carbohydrates. I have spoken about the high cavity-forming potential of them at the Ancestral Health Symposium. Simply put, processed carbs are the leading cause of tooth decay, and we should avoid them.

The main ingredient is not sunflower seeds!

The label states that there is one ingredient: Cold-pressed sunflower seed powder, not sunflower seeds. Because they are using leftover seeds after they have been cold-pressed, they can't tell you that they are sunflower seeds because technically they are not. They are the crushed remnants of seeds, otherwise known as sunflower seed powder. The quantities stated on the label do not add up to the amount in one scoop, and I am not sure why. They also claim that they don't put any weird additives in it, so if other ingredients have been added, they are not listed, but at least they are not weird. I am not sure what that means. 

Allergen friendly

Other than not adding weird things, they claim to be allergen-friendly, but there is no law dictating its meaning and who can use the term. If you are allergic to sunflower seeds, watch out.

It also claims to be great for sensitive stomachs. Fiber is known to cause bloating, pain, flatulence, and diarrhea. This is a meaningless claim.

Builds lean muscle

They also claim that you can build lean muscle, but if it does not contain all amino acids, this claim is not exactly valid. 

Finally, they say it is easily digestible. Fiber is not digestible by the human body. 

Other meaningless claims

Farm Sourced: Can you think of any other place sunflower seeds would be grown?

Optimally Dried: If they were sub-optimally dried, they would be moist, which is not a good look for powder. 

I sound very harsh regarding this product. I do not mean to be. I think there are a ton of much worse food products out there. I am a whole food kind of guy. There is a danger to processing foods, even just a little. In this talk, I show evidence of stone-age people who destroyed their teeth by grounding acorns into a fine decay-causing powder. Who would have thought that acorns could lead to tooth decay? Not me. 

Conclusion

• Eat whole foods whenever possible.

• Avoid food that is in a powder form, or is made from powders in the process (cookies for instance).

• Minimize processed foods.

• Read labels when consuming packaged foods and research ingredients you don’t reconize.

• Don't fall for meaningless claims like "contains no weird additives."