[CH] Re: Health Benefits of Chiles - Vitamin C
George Nelson (70431.3065@compuserve.com)
Sun, 27 Feb 2000 10:58:26 -0500
Linus Pauling was a big vitamin C advocate as most of us know. One of his
papers on the subject included a table of the vitamin C content of a
primitive human diet from a semi-tropical area where humans are said to
originate. His purpose was to show that the diet was so awash in sources
of vitamin C that, unlike other animals, there was no need for humans to be
able to synthesize it or to retain it in the body.
Green peppers (do they ring a bell? :-) ) headed the list of being the
richest source. Red peppers had a bit less and dried red chiles were
lower, but still had a respectable amount of vitamin C compared to other
vegetables and fruits, including orange juice.
If I recall, this was on a 100 calorie basis rather than by wet weight or
by dry weight. This was to aid in demonstrating that a vegetable-dominant
hunter-gatherer diet of 2000 to 3000 calories per day would be loaded with
vitamin C and that the human system needs lots of vitamin C. Most
vegetables fit in a fairly narrow calorie/weight range, so the Pauling
article table is pretty much the same as a standard USDA analysis.
George "didn't know I had so many posts in me" Nelson