Let's talk about herbs and spices
There is little mention of spices, even though spices are part of a healthy diet, and they are also nutrient-rich plants. It's worth using them with care in the kitchen, we'll write a little about that below.
Published 11.01.2025
Prof. Time Spector (of "Food for Life" book fame) encourages the liberal use of herbs and spices as a way to broaden the variety of plants in our diet. He strongly promotes eating 30 different plants each week - a herb mixture (like curry powder), contains 3 or 4 different plants in a concentrated aromatic form. Sadly, conventional (non-organic) herbs sold in supermarkets very often blend low quality herbs (low taste), with additives like monosodium glutamate (MSG), to strengthen flavour - that is to compensate for lack of flavour. Flavour is a complex issue, but there is a clear link between flavour and nutritional value in foods - the more intense and cleaner the flavours, the more nutrient-dense.
Organic production standards specifically ban the use of many additives (like emulsifiers and flavour enhancers - e.g. MSG). MSG is somewhat contraversial, as it is almost ubiquitous in ultra-processed foods (UPF), and a mainstay of the corporate food industry. MSG has been linked with obesity, metabolic disorders, various neurotoxic effects, and negative effects on reproductive organs, as well as a whole host of other health issues. Whilst some more recent claims that toxicity may have been over-stated (beware these studies are likely to have been sponsored by the corporate food industry) - the poison is surely in the dose, so surely best avoided. Unfortunately, exposure to MSG is increasing, as it is being included in so many foods (UPF) as well as into herb and spice mixes. Research reported by the National Library of Medicine, NIH, the US governments official archive on health research, found that even low doses of MSG can have toxic effects on neuron transmitters (Solomon et al, 2015, NIH.NLM, USA).
Pure organic herbs and spices, whilst adding variety and diversity to our diet are rich in polyphenols and other plant compounds which strenghen our immune system, reduce inflamation as well as boost genuine flavours. We have a good range of herbs and spices to choose from by BioBerta, which you can safely add to your cooking to spice up your life!