prevent cognitive decline in older age.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cMore than 90% of younger women are deficient in folate \u2013 which is why the government wants to add folic acid (a more bioavailable form) to white flour,\u201d said Dr Ruxton. <\/p>\n
Peas are a good source of iron<\/p>\n
A serving of peas provides around a tenth of the daily iron recommendation.<\/p>\n
Stirling-Reed said 100g of peas provides around 1.5mg of iron, which is similar to the amount of iron found in eggs. <\/p>\n
\u201cAdding a handful of peas as a side, or into cooked meals like bolognaise or curries, or blitzing them into homemade pesto even, can be a really simple way to up your family\u2019s iron intake,\u201d said the nutritionist.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis can be particularly helpful for fussier kids too, who might struggle to get enough iron in their diet but who often find peas an acceptable veg!\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Ruxton noted that, even for grown-ups, iron is important for mental agility and reducing fatigue. She pointed out that around four in 10 women are low in iron. <\/p>\n
How to cook and eat them<\/p>\n
You can add peas to mac and cheese, gnocchi dishes, curries, risottos, grain bowls, soups, fried rice, cottage pies, and even whizz it into pesto.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re having them as a standalone side dish, both experts agree that boiling them isn\u2019t the way to go if you want to preserve the vitamins. <\/p>\n
\u201cQuickly steaming or microwaving rather than over-boiling peas can help to preserve heat-sensitive vitamins (like Vitamin C and folate),\u201d said Stirling-Reed.<\/p>\n
For frozen peas, Dr Ruxton advises putting them in a bowl with a tablespoon of water and microwaving them for 2-3 minutes to \u201cpreserve most of the vitamin C\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrinking a glass of 100% orange juice with a meal containing peas helps to boost absorption of iron,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Stirlng-Reed recommends consuming peas with healthy fats, such as olive oil, avocado or nuts and seeds to support the absorption of fat-soluble compounds like lutein and vitamin K. <\/p>\n
Anything else to note?<\/p>\n
The nutritionist noted that as peas contain vitamin K, which plays a key role in blood clotting, \u201cpeople who are taking blood-thinning medications like Warfarin should keep their Vitamin K intake consistent and discuss significant diet changes with their GP or dietitian\u201d.<\/p>\n
Eating plenty of peas might also trigger IBS symptoms in certain individuals, but this should \u201calways be discussed with a specialist clinician to make sure you\u2019re not avoiding them unnecessarily, or including them in your diet when they are making symptoms worse\u201d, she added.<\/p>\n
I, for one, will be giving peas a chance. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Peas appear to be off the menu for plenty of Brits, with figures showing consumption has dropped to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":932604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[64,63,1295,137,532],"class_list":["post-932603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-food","tag-health","tag-nutrition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=932603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/932604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=932603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=932603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=932603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}