Googling isn’t helping, because the results are all from health and diet pages. I’m trying to find a science answer.
[Request] Please try and actually explain this to a 5-10yo. I have a kid in that age range who’s the one actually asking the question. I can do my best to bring an “I graduated high school” answer down to his level, but I might struggle to bring an “I’ve completed some college and have a basic background in biochemistry” answer to his level. Thanks!
In: 62
Plants are basically machines for collecting energy, storing that energy in little packages along with DNA, then dispersing those energy packages in the hopes that new plants can use the stored energy to grow.
So how much energy you get from eating a plant part depends a lot on what this plant part is meant to do. Leafy green parts like lettuce are meant for collecting energy from the sun and don’t hold a lot themselves. Nuts and seeds are meant for storing energy, so you naturally get a lot from eating them. Some plants like to encourage *us* to disperse their seeds by growing tasty fruits that we take and eat elsewhere. These can vary a lot in their nutritional properties.
Grains are a kind of seed. We’re very good at growing a lot of them, removing the outer shells, and cooking or grinding them to make the energy maximally available. If you did the same thing to almonds or walnuts, you would get something with roughly the same amount of calories.
Grains have more carbohydrates, and other nuts have more fats. These are just different ways of storing energy. Carbs can be accessed faster and so are better for tiny seeds meant to quickly grow into small plants like wheat stalks. Fats are better for big seeds meant to slowly grow into trees.
Googling isn’t helping, because the results are all from health and diet pages. I’m trying to find a science answer.
[Request] Please try and actually explain this to a 5-10yo. I have a kid in that age range who’s the one actually asking the question. I can do my best to bring an “I graduated high school” answer down to his level, but I might struggle to bring an “I’ve completed some college and have a basic background in biochemistry” answer to his level. Thanks!
In: 62
Plants are basically machines for collecting energy, storing that energy in little packages along with DNA, then dispersing those energy packages in the hopes that new plants can use the stored energy to grow.
So how much energy you get from eating a plant part depends a lot on what this plant part is meant to do. Leafy green parts like lettuce are meant for collecting energy from the sun and don’t hold a lot themselves. Nuts and seeds are meant for storing energy, so you naturally get a lot from eating them. Some plants like to encourage *us* to disperse their seeds by growing tasty fruits that we take and eat elsewhere. These can vary a lot in their nutritional properties.
Grains are a kind of seed. We’re very good at growing a lot of them, removing the outer shells, and cooking or grinding them to make the energy maximally available. If you did the same thing to almonds or walnuts, you would get something with roughly the same amount of calories.
Grains have more carbohydrates, and other nuts have more fats. These are just different ways of storing energy. Carbs can be accessed faster and so are better for tiny seeds meant to quickly grow into small plants like wheat stalks. Fats are better for big seeds meant to slowly grow into trees.
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