Miss Muffet and other fairy tales are into nutrition

Those of you with an extensive literary background will probably recall that prior to doing battle with the spider, little Miss Muffet was eating not just her curds, but also her whey. If, in fact, your university courses gave you an in-depth understanding of macro-economics, but caused you to bypass Foods and Nutrition 101, you may not have the foggiest idea just what whey is anyway. Essentially it's this: when you curdle the protein in milk, it's the juice that's left behind. Fair enough--but is it "good for you"? You bet.

Research into the nutritional value of whey has emphasized its role in the retention of lean body mass and achievement of a healthy weight, but whey protein isolates (containing a minimum of 90 percent protein on a dry weight basis) are especially good sources of branched-chain amino acids like leucine. This amino acid is particularly important for stimulating muscle growth, of concern for seniors and athletes. No doubt it was the leucine that enabled Miss Muffet's quick getaway from the spider. Whey is an excellent source of many vitamins and minerals(especially potassium, so Miss Muffet was on the right track--maybe not about spiders, but certainly about nutrition. It's definitely worth your while to stir the whey back into your yogurt or cottage cheese, and to think about having a fruity milkshake with dried whey protein as one of the ingredients.

Other nursery rhymes contain ideas about nutrition as well. Jack Spratt (remember him: he could eat no fat; his wife could eat no lean)weighed in with his notion about fat intake. Insurance companies would probably put their money on Jack to outlive his wife, but the jury's not yet in on that one. In any case, I bet Jack had a heck of a case of fatty acid deficiency. Anon (the guy that wrote most of these fairy tales) probably didn't have a clue about linolenic and arachadonic acids...never mind that they wouldn't rhyme with anything. But the fact is that a fat-free diet like Jack's would give him, among other serious problems, a serious case of dermatitis.

For a real hard luck nutrition case we need look no further than Mother Hubbard. She goes to the cupboard looking for a bone for her dog and finds the cupboard bare. Never mind that bones shouldn't be kept in a cupboard anyway, most veterinarians recommend dog food over bones any day. Perhaps Mother Hubbard had eaten all the dog food. Who knows? Anon didn't provide much detail on topics of this nature.

In a somewhat lighter vein we have porridge--the subject of several nursery rhymes. You'll notice the operative term is porridge, as in rolled oats or oatmeal...nary a mention of oat bran. Do you suppose Goldilocks would have risked the wrath of three bears over a bowl of oat bran? And what about those folks that liked their peas porridge (whatever that was) in the pot nine days old. The very thought of nine-day old porridge is enough to drive even the most dedicated dietitian to a bag of Oreos.

For food and prejudice we need look no further than Higgledy Piggledy My Black Hen(she lays eggs for gentlemen). What is this--nutrition for the upper crust? One can just imagine those gentlemen arguing over dietary versus serum cholesterol. With any luck they realized that the egg is a superior source of nutrients and for the vast majority of the population dietary cholesterol (as found in the egg)is not a concern.

And where do you suppose the king was while the queen was counting all her money? He was somewhere (memory fails me) eating bread and honey. Sure, but what kind of bread? Nine grain? Cracked wheat? White enriched? Fairy Tales often raise more questions than they answer...but so do the charlatans operating so widely today. I wonder how they'd feel about four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie?