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The Soaking Grains Debate: Meet the Experts

April 30th, 2010 · 32 Comments · Science of Nutrition

To soak or not to soak?

Nope, this isn’t the definitive post (sorry to tease you!).  I told you here that when you see a post titled “To Soak or Not to Soak” that I’m finished debating the soaking grains question.  Today, I’m just inviting you into my document folders to introduce you to the tangled web of research and opinions I have collected so far.

Five experts from various fields have weighed in on the topic of soaking grains and phytates/phytic acid for me.  They are:

SallyFallonMorell Sally Fallon Morrell is the founder and president of the Weston A. Price Foundation and author of Nourishing Traditions.  Fallon Morrell wrote the book on soaking grains.  Literally.  She believes the phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors in unsoaked whole grains are dangerous to consume.  She advocates soaking grains as I’ve described previously, in a warm, slightly acidic medium, at or above room temperature for 12-24 hours.

Much of the information found on the Internet, especially the blogosphere, on soaking grains and phytic acid ultimately winds back to her work as the source.  Some say the Nourishing Traditions viewpoint is based on bad science or outdated resources.  Some of it is, justifiably, unsubstantiated, and certain recommendations (like how to soak dry beans) have been changed over the years after being found to be ineffective.  My goal was to find information outside the realm of Weston Price, so that I could either substantiate or disprove the soaking grains theory.

image Dr. Teri O’Brien is a Harvard alum biologist who has published research in the fields of Botany, Zoology, Cell Biology, Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, and Plant Anatomy, including four books and over 75 journal articles over the last 50 years in the field.  He has done some of the research that Sally Fallon Morrell doesn’t quote.

He validates the fact that whole grains DO have phytic acid, which renders most of their minerals unavailable, but otherwise he disagrees with Fallon wholeheartedly and thinks soaking grains is a complete waste of time and quite ineffective.

image Amanda Rose has a Ph.D. in political science but turned her academic expertise to the issue of food science to get to the bottom of her post-partum depression after having her first child.  She doesn’t claim to be an expert, but has compiled extensive research on phytic acid and how to reduce it in our diets.

She published a Phytic Acid White Paper with the results of her findings and is also the author of a full-length book, Rebuild from Depression.  She soaks grains but prefers sourdough preparation, and her research showed that soaking grains is both necessary and valid.  She and I are hypothesizing currently about the effectiveness of using a few spoonfuls of sourdough starter instead of whey when soaking oatmeal.  Want to be a guinea pig?

image Rebecca Wood is a Julia Child award-winning author of The Splendid Grain and The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia.  She has been writing about healing with a sustainable diet since 1970.  When I stumbled across her website, I thought I had found a possible phytic acid resource outside the realm of the Weston A. Price Foundation (it seemed as though every other source I could find ultimately spun back to relying on Fallon Morrell’s work, and I wanted other support).

Unfortunately, when we spoke on the phone, Wood told me she had simply accepted the information in Nourishing Traditions.  She did call my attention to germinated brown rice and is in active discussion with Eden Foods about the best way to prepare legumes (I’m poking my nose in that conversation, of course!), so I’m glad to be in contact with her, but she’s now looking to me for more balanced soaking research.

image Dr. Stephan Guyenet holds a B.S. in biochemistry from and a Ph.D. in neurobiology and currently conducts research on body fat regulation.  His academic mind, however, has been put to other good use in his spare time:  He studies health and well-being through the science behind traditional food preparation.  He blogs about his findings at Whole Health Source, which is where I discovered the method for soaking brown rice that I prefer.

He was kind enough to share his findings with me, including actual research about phytates, phytic acid and phytase, along with his interpretations of the evidence.  He believes it’s important to consider how healthy traditional cultures treated their grains, but he’s not a parrot of Weston A. Price without reading the food science journals himself and applying science to history.  I finally found my alternate source!

Next week:  The text of email conversations between Sally Fallon and Dr. Teri O’Brien, plus some unique perspectives on when and why three of these experts would recommend white bread or white flour.

**Catch up on all the soaking grains research so far and my recipes for sourdough preparation and soaked grains, all in one convenient spot.**

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Disclosure:  I am an affiliate for Amanda Rose’s work, which means I’ll get a commission if you buy her book or paper using the links in this post, but that relationship in no way impacts my decision to include her in my panel of “experts.”  See my full disclosure statement here.

This post is entered in Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.

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