Happy
Week-That-We-Really-Need-To-Start-Being-More-Thankful-For-Things!
I
have now made deviled eggs a whopping twice in my life (both this Thanksgiving
week) and have since convinced myself that the fluid balance in my recipe is
perfect. Given that, I guess the world deserves to know my secret...
First, the recipe for some bomb
deviled eggs:
1.
8 whole, hard-boiled
eggs
2.
5 Tbsp Mayo
3.
1 Tsp Vinegar
4.
1 Tsp Mustard
5.
SPICE
Note that the recipe is extremely
flexible and scalable. I use cage-free eggs, apple cider vinegar,
poupon/horseradish mustard, mayonnaise made with olive oil, and a liberal
myriad of whatever spices I’m feeling/are available (get creative). Sea salt is
the [good] shit. Also note that I prefer to make food that will extend the
lives of those who eat it rather than shorten them, hence the non-conventional
staple ingredients. Either way, it’s hard to ruin the health benefits of eggs. Note that eggs from humanely raised,
cage-free chickens are way better than those eggs you can get
at Wally World for 88 cents a dozen. I’m half-Jew and even I can resist the urge to
buy the cheapest thing on the shelf when it means I'm supporting something I believe in, so you can, too. Don’t encourage that.
Now for the good part – I think I figured out a new
reason why eggs are among the healthiest foods on the planet and you will be
among the first to read it:
Eggs contain lots of
Sulfur. When anaerobes in your GI tract ferment organic sulfur compounds like the
amino acid cysteine, they produce H2S (the sulfur analogue of
water), among other small sulfur-containing molecules. You also naturally
produce H2S and use it as a signaling molecule, albeit in smaller
quantities. When you fart, you release a small amount of the gaseous metabolite
(which exhibits a characteristic "rotten egg" aroma),1
that may, believe it or not, actually be beneficial to inhale. Note that H2S
smells strongly because it is toxic in larger quantities and naturally
abundant in places like volcanoes, therefore your nose has receptors that have
evolved to detect extremely low concentrations of the gas. That being said, if you hold in too many farts, the H2S will be
directly absorbed back into your system and is much more likely to poison you from the inside, since in that
case none of the gas is dissipated.
Anyway, recent
research indicates that H2S is a pretty potent anti-inflammatory
chemical at low concentrations, suppressing the expression of inflammatory
cytokines including IL-1β, TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-12, and IL-23, among others, and in
some cases increasing the expression of anti-inflammatory IL-10.2
The molecule is also involved in mediating NF-κB and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2)
activity,2 the former of which is involved in recruitment of other
cytokines and the latter of which is the same enzyme that traditional NSAID
drugs like aspirin are thought to inhibit. H2S is a pivotal player
in tissue repair likely due to its stimulatory roles in mitochondria, its
ability to modulate the growth, death, and activity of immune cells, as well as
its physical reducing power. It has
also been found to foster a healthy GI-tract, due both to its engagement in
gastric mucosa signaling and likely also to its inherent antimicrobial activity.
Experiments suggest that consumption of H2S-precursor drugs do,
indeed, reduce inflammatory symptoms in mice and rats. 2
Take-home message: Fart-gas is actually an antioxidant, so sniff up.
Since this
was just kind of meant to be a fun fact, that will be all for now. For more
information and an awesome related project, check out this link:
https://courses.cit.cornell.edu/ee476/FinalProjects/s2009/rac82_mos22/rac82_mos22/
References:
1. René E Cormier. “Chapter 90:
Abdominal Gas”, Clinical Methods: The History, Physical, and Laboratory
Examinations, 3rd Edition,
Boston, MA: Butterworths. Available from: <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK201/>.
(1990)
2. John Wallace, et al. “Gaseous mediators in resolution of inflammation”, Seminars in Immunology, 27(3),
227-233. (2015)
