Why hemp?
Excerpted from Hempseed Nutrition by
Lynn Osburn
Because no other single plant on earth
can compete with the nutritional value of hemp.
The nutritive properties of the hemp seed are
astounding. Rich in essential fats and oils, the
seeds could provide a nutritional boost to a
food-culture which mistakenly percieves all fat as a
bad thing; which is more and more lacking in the
important fats oils; and which is being inundated
with downright dangerous fats, oils, and synthetic
substitutes. The seeds can be ground into a flour,
not unlike other strictly cereal crops like wheat or
oats.
Cannabis hemp seeds contain all the essential
amino acids and essential fatty acids necessary to
maintain healthy human life. No other single plant
source provides complete protein in such an easily
digestible form, nor has the oils essential to life
in as perfect a ratio for human health and vitality.
Hempseed is the highest of any plant in essential
fatty acids (EFAs). Hempseed oil is among the lowest
in saturated fats at 8% of total oil volume. The oil
pressed from hempseed contains 55% lineoleic acid
(LA) and 25% linolenic acid (LNA). Only flax oil has
more LNA at 58%, but hempseed oil is the highest in
total EFAs at 80% of total oil volume.
"These essential fatty acids are responsible for
our immune response. In the old country the peasants
ate hemp butter. They were more resistant to disease
than the nobility." The higher classes wouldn't eat
hemp because the poor ate it. --- R. Hamilton, ED.D.,
Ph.D. Medical Researcher-Biochemist UCLA Emeritus.
LA and LNA are involved in producing
life-maintaining energy from food and the movement
of that energy throughout the body. EFAs govern
growth, vitality and state of mind. LA and LNA are
involved in transferring oxygen from the air in the
lungs to every cell in the body. They play a part in
holding oxygen in the cell membrane where it acts as
a barrier to invading viruses and bacteria, neither
of which thrive in the presence of oxygen.
The bent molecular shape of the EFAs keeps them
from dissolving into each other. They are slippery
and will not clog arteries like the sticky,
straight-shaped saturated fats (SFs) and the
trans-fatty acids (TFAs) in cooking oils and
shortenings that are made by subjecting
polyunsaturated oils like LA and LNA to high
temperatures during the defining process.
LA and LNA possess a slightly negative charge and
have a tendency to form very thin surface layers.
This proprty is called surface activity, and it
provides the power to carry substances like toxins
to the surface of the skin, intestinal tract,
kidneys, and lungs where they can be removed. These
acids' very sensitivity causes them to break down
rapidly into toxic compunds when when refined with
high heat, or improper storage exposes them to light
or air.
Nature provides seeds with an outer shell that
safely protects the vital oils and vitamins within
from spoilage. It's also a perfectly edible
container. Hempseed can be ground into a paste
similar to peanut butter only more delicate in
flavour. Udo Erasmus, Ph.D. nutritionist says: "hemp
butter puts our peanut butter to shame for
nutritional value." The ground seeds can be baked
into breads, cakes, and casseroles. Hempseed makes a
hearty addition to granola bars.
Pioneers in the fields of biochemistry and human
nutrition now believe cardiovascular diseases (CVD)
and most cancers are really diseases of fatty
degeneration caused by the continued
over-consumption of SFs and refived vegetable oils
that turn EFAs into carcogenic killers. One out of
two Americans will die from the effects of CVD, One
out of four Americans will die of cancer.
Researchers believe cancers erupt when one's immune
system response is weakened. And, more Americans are
succumbing to immune deficiency diseases than ever
before. Promising syudies are now under way using
the essential oils to support the immune systems of
HIV patients.
The complete protein in hempseed gives the body
all the essential amino acids required to maintain
health, and provides the necessary kinds and amounts
of amino acids the body needs to make human serum
albumin and serum globulins like the immune
enhancing gamma gobulin antibodies.
The body's ability to resist and recover from
illness depends upon how rapidly it can produce
massive amounts of antibodies to fend off the
initial attack. If the globulin protein starting
material is in short supply, the army of antibodies
may be too small to prevent the symptoms of sickness
from setting in.
The best way to insure the body has enough amino
acid material to make the globulins is to eat foods
high in globulin proteins. Hempseed protein is 65%
globulin edestin plus quantities of albumin (present
in all seeds) so it's easily digestable protein is
readily available in a form quite similar to that
found in blood plasma.
Hempseed was used to treat nutritional
deficiencies brought on by tuberculosis, a severe
nutrition-blocking disease that causes the body to
waste away. (Czechoslovakia Tubercular Nutritional
Study, 1955.)
The energy of life is in the whole seed. Hempseed
foods taste great and will insure we get enough
essential amino acids and essential fatty acids to
build strong bodies and immune systems, and to
maintain health and vitality.
Excerpted from Hempseed Nutrition by
Lynn Osburn. |