02/25/2004 Archived Entry: "Jamming Opposable Thumbs"

They're why we don't fight against dolphins for control of the planet, we've got the thumbs, and they don't. I think we all take our thumbs for granted. Contrary to what some of you may believe, the thumb is the most important appendage we have. The thumb is used for everything from turning a door knob to putting on pants, writing, typing, cutting, anything, really, which involves holding an object. And physically being able to grasp an object is one of the essential parts of being human.

Of course, our thumbs also happen to be the most easily injured part of our bodies. And it’s not until you’ve hurt your thumb that you realize how truly useful it is. Just imagine getting anything from warm, dull pain to hot searing knives in your hand every time you…I dunno…put on gloves! Or being completely helpless when it comes to opening those little granola bar wrappers. Or tying double knots in your boots without using one of your thumbs. It’s terrible I tell you! Terrible!

So remember, when next you're sparring with someone keep your thumbs away from trouble because if your opponent happens to block your punch with a knee, all your daily activities are not only going to become difficult for a few weeks but downright painful.

In other news, after 2 months, I was getting tired of peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches for lunch so I got a PC peach and passion fruit jam on Sunday. The jam’s a bit more subtle and runny than its strawberry brethren and it’s got chunks of peach in it so the taste and texture are a wee bit off to go well with peanut butter but on a slice of fluffy Country Harvest Oat Bran it’s the best thing to happen to bread since the whole slicing revolution. And yeah, it hurts like a bitch to spread the jam but even more so to open the frelling jar.

Replies: 22 comments

Always getting hurt, aren't you?

Andrea could make a living out of following you and first-aiding you out when you decide to test pain on all those different parts the human body has.

Posted by Étienne @ 02/25/2004 05:33 PM EST

strawberry brethren...mmmm...

Posted by jer @ 02/25/2004 05:52 PM EST

I think I'd have better things to do with Andrea if she were following me around.

Hi Andrea!

Posted by Rayne @ 02/25/2004 06:29 PM EST

That last paragraph is an on-purpose run-on sentence.

Posted by Joe @ 02/25/2004 07:43 PM EST

Listen here. My texture may be slightly different than my Oat Bran brother but I'd like to point out that I taste a hell of a lot better. Oat Bran just tastes so plain. Light and fluffy: yes. Filled with flavour: no.

Posted by Country Harvest Honey and Oats Bread @ 02/25/2004 07:59 PM EST

I could make a living off him couldn't I? :)

And I bet you would Thai. :P
Hi! *waves*

Posted by Andrea @ 02/26/2004 05:01 AM EST

Thai would have to stop paying for school and residence to have a personal administrator of...............""first aid"".

Sounds like you eat a ton of peanut butter Thai...the aflatoxins are going to catch up with ya...when that time comes, even "first aid" won't help...;)

Posted by dAN @ 02/26/2004 09:06 AM EST

you should try soynut butter ... tastes the same, but much better for you .... and you buy jam in a store? that's so wrong ... and jam is SUPPOSED to have chunks of fruit in it ... that's what makes it jam ... otherwise it might as well be jelly

Posted by melpie @ 02/26/2004 09:28 AM EST

I heard almond jam is a healthy substitute as well...apparently almonds don't have aflatoxins

Posted by dAN @ 02/26/2004 06:52 PM EST

don't you think that aflatoxin sounds like the name of some tough fighter guy ... that's part man part robot ... or is that just the mental image *i* get?

Posted by melpie @ 02/27/2004 09:27 AM EST

C'est quoi un Aflatoxin?

Posted by Rayne @ 02/27/2004 11:22 AM EST

Alfatoxins are fungus that contaminate in certain grains grown under stressful conditions (usually a drought). Most grains produced in developped countries are regullary tested for alfatoxins, so I don't think this is a justification for almonds over peanuts.

Remember folks, google is your friend:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Aflatoxin&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Posted by ian @ 02/27/2004 04:07 PM EST

In fact, peanuts and peanut butter, when consumed in moderation, are extremely healthy for you. The main thing you have to be concerned about is the calories and the fat content, and how they relate to you:

http://www.prevention.com/cda/feature2002/0,2479,s1-2404,00.html
http://www.peanut-institute.org/070303_PR.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/13/earlyshow/contributors/emilysenay/main583482.shtml

Posted by ian @ 02/27/2004 04:14 PM EST

Aflatoxins were discovered when turkeys in Mexico were fed with peanuts. Eventually all of them died. Its basically a toxin produced by a fungus that's found on nuts. Stressful conditions are not a requirement, as aflatoxins are usually high in nuts under storage (especially when its humid).

I disagree that the MAIN concern with peanut butter are calories and fat content, when eating peanut butter once every 10 days starts to pose a cancer risk higher than that of most pesticides.

Mel, I don't see the part human/part bot thing at all...:P

Posted by dAN @ 02/27/2004 07:13 PM EST

do you have a source for that statistic?

Posted by ian @ 02/27/2004 09:48 PM EST

"According to a Consumers Union study done a few years ago, eating peanut butter that contains an average level of only two parts per billion of aflatoxin once every 10 days would present a cancer risk...higher than the estimated risk of cancer from most pesticides" (Weil, 1998)

Posted by dAN @ 02/27/2004 10:37 PM EST

meh, who really cares. You could spend your whole life analyzing everything little thing you eat and what it could do to your body. I'd say that it seems to me that there really aren't any foods that don't have some kind of bad element for you. I'd say I try to be observant and careful of what I eat to try and be healthly, but some people are just obsessed. At some point you really need to step back and say to yourself that in the end the difference is negligible. I mean so what if by going to all this effort i extend my life by a couple years at best. When you get really old there really isn't much to look forward to. quite frankly i wouldn't mind trimming off those last few years of my life...would i really be happy breathing through a tube and peeing into a jar...oh yeah, all that hard work paid off..riiiiight.

hmmm, where was i going with all this, no one will ever know.

Posted by Mike @ 02/28/2004 01:34 AM EST

Sure. IF you ate peanut butter that contained aflatoxin, it'd be dangerous. Ian's point is that peanut butter in North America *doesn't* contain the fungus.

If I drank milk with a certain ppm of mercury I'd get sick, too, but I continue to drink it anyways since our milk doesn't friggin' contain mercury.

Posted by Joe @ 02/28/2004 11:28 AM EST

Joe, the Consumers Union study was conducted on OUR brands of peanut butter. Aflatoxins are present whether you like it or not.

Posted by dAN @ 02/29/2004 02:35 AM EST

Point me to the study which says "Canadian peanut butter contains Aflatoxins," and I'll believe you. So far all you've said is "Peanut butter which contains aflatoxins is bad," which I don't contest.

Posted by Joe @ 02/29/2004 04:24 PM EST

The US Government (and simmilarily, Canada and the EU) has mandates for maximum levels, such as this:
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/fdaact.html#afla

You will have to scroll down a bit, but it says that the FDA will take action if "peanuts and peanut products" contain 20 parts per billion or greater.

However, if we look at a page that references dAN's study, or consult various manufacturers websites, we see that peanut butter and other simmilar products are actually much lower than this level:
http://www.drweil.com/app/cda/drw_cda.html-command=TodayQA-questionId=3378-pt=Question

Additionally, many other countries have requirements much lower, some with even a zero tolerance:
http://www.fao.org/inpho/compend/text/Ch21sec1_5.htm

So if we are to believe these two sources, we can come to the conlustion that peanut butter has some amount of aflatoxins, and these aflatoxins cause cancer.

The part I believe Mike may have been getting to, is whether or not this chance is worth taking.

You know the smell of gasoline? That causes cancer. And what about that foul smell when your computer, monitor or a battery melts/explodes/catches fire? That smoke causes cancer. Same with being around people that smoke.

The study uses pesticides as a comparasion. But this is ambigious, and serves only to make the findings unverifiable. Do they mean the average amount of pesticides consumed by a person every year, or those who live on a farm that are more exposed to them? What pesticide are the talking about? There are multiple ones, each with varying risk:
http://envirocancer.cornell.edu/Topics/Pesticide/Pesticide.cfm#Specific
This report, though often cited, does not appear to be online in any form so it is difficult for any of us to argue this point one way or another.

Additionally, a Dr. Weil brings up an interesting point:
"Aflatoxin is a potent carcinogen, known to cause liver cancer in laboratory animals and may contribute to liver cancer in Africa where peanuts are a dietary staple...While we don't know much about the dangers of long-term exposure to low levels of aflatoxin... there hasn't been an outbreak of liver cancer among U.S. kids, who as you know, consume enormous amounts of peanut butter."
http://health.yahoo.com/health/ate/drweil/alldaily/2003/04/115491

SO, to conclude:

Canadian peanut butter may contain aflatoxins. (American peanut butter, which is probably close, can be up to 20 parts per billion)

Aflatoxins are a known carcinogen. (Having peanut butter with 2 parts per billion of peanut butter once every 10 days would present a cancer risk of 0.0007%)

What we don't know is the ACTUAL amount of aflatoxins in Canadian peanut butter. (The study, and the manufactuers state that it is "much lower" then the regulated maximum.)

I think we have sufficiently exhausted this topic of conversation now.

Posted by ian @ 03/01/2004 10:44 AM EST

Bravo ian!

I was too lazy to go around and find sites proving the ubiquitous nature of these molds in peanuts that are used to make peanut butter.

Posted by dAN @ 03/01/2004 11:14 AM EST