Most of them store their energy not in starch but in oil, a more compact, concentrated chemical form (p 121) Nuts are much less important in the human diet than grains or legumes because nut trees don’t begin to bear until years after they’re planted, and can’t produce as much per acre as the quick-growing grains and legumes The biggest exception to this rule is the coconut, a staple food in many tropical countries Another is the peanut, which is a legume with an uncharacteristically oily, tender seed, and which can be grown quickly in massive numbers Seeds and Health Our seed foods provide us with many nutritional benefits To begin with, they’re our most important staple sources of energy and protein, and carry the B vitamins that are required for the chemical work of generating energy and building tissue In fact, they’re such a good source of these essential nutrients that cultures have occasionally relied on the grains too heavily, and suffered from dietary deficiencies as a result The debilitating disease called beriberi plagued rice-eating Asia in the 19th century when milling machines made it easier to remove the inconvenient, unattractive outer bran layer from rice grains — and along with it their thiamin, which the rest of the largely vegetarian diet couldn’t make up (meats and fish are rich in thiamin) A different deficiency disease called pellagra struck the rural poor in Europe and the southern United States in the 18th and 19th centuries, when they adopted corn from Central and South America as a staple food, but without the processing method (cooking in alkaline water) that makes its stores of niacin available to the human body Beriberi and pellagra led early in the 20th ... rural poor in Europe and the southern United States in the 18th and 19th centuries, when they adopted corn from Central and South America as a staple food, but without the processing method (cooking in alkaline water)... from rice grains — and along with it their thiamin, which the rest of the largely vegetarian diet couldn’t make up (meats and fish are rich in thiamin) A different deficiency disease called pellagra struck the. ..energy and building tissue In fact, they’re such a good source of these essential nutrients that cultures have occasionally relied on the grains too heavily, and suffered from dietary