Alternative Title: The Health Benefits of Bamboo Shoots
Ray Peat has mentioned a rather novel food for health on several occasions – Bamboo Shoots. They are commonly eaten in Asian cuisine, where they grow natively. As the name suggests, they are the young shoots or ‘sprouts’ of bamboo plants, which are tender and crisp before turning woody. It is a similar concept to asparagus. Bamboo shoots are typically found in North America in the form of canned or tinned shaved bamboo shoots. They shouldn’t be too difficult to find, as they are even sold at ‘dollar’ stores commonly. They are a ‘clean’ and well-tolerated food, that offer a nice crisp crunch to various dishes or eaten on their own, unlike some other health foods like smoked oysters, cod livers, or raw eggs that many might have aversion to. This makes a safe and comfortable food easy to incorporate into a diet for health benefits.
Since bamboo shoots grow in the ground, they are richer in various antimicrobial and phytocompounds in order to adapt to the microbial environment. This is the same effect in place with mushrooms and root vegetables like carrots, which are perfect for scrubbing and sweeping the intestines of pathogenic bacteria, fungi, yeasts, endotoxin, and other toxins or harmful agents. Bamboo shoots can be used interchangeably with carrots and mushrooms for many of the same benefits like reduced estrogen and promoting a metabolic state.
Benefits of Bamboo Shoots
1. Insoluble Fiber
Bamboo Shoots’ primary benefit is their rich insoluble fiber content. This is the same principle as the Ray Peat carrot salad or eating raw carrots. Insoluble fiber binds to endotoxin, toxins, microbes, and bile in the gut, and facilitates their excretion out of the body. He phrased it best as ‘sweeping the intestines’ like a brush, or a street cleaner I sometimes picture. A fibrous matrix that sweeps the surface of the intestines, grabbing and binding to whatever toxic materials or microbes it can, like a sponge that reaches every detail all the way through, leaving a detoxified and reset terrain. This results in decreased inflammation, and drastically reducing estrogen levels, which is the principle mechanism of the carrot salad’s effects (alongside reducing endotoxin). Carrots, Bamboo Shoots, and Mushrooms are all high in insoluble fiber, which is why Ray Peat mentions them synonymously for this context. Insoluble fiber also removes serotonin produced in the gut, and prevents in absorption.
Benefits of Insoluble Fiber:
- Decreases Estrogen
- Reduces Endotoxin
- Improves Gut Health
- Lowers Gut Inflammation
- Binds To Serotonin
2. Antimicrobial Compounds
Since bamboo sprouts from the ground naturally, and also grows in moist areas that could be likened to marshes or bogs, they are in need of robust immunological defenses. Fungi and other microbes threaten plants just like humans, and so in moist areas and soil where these are rampant, Bamboo will produce antimicrobial compounds which benefit us or our gut. These antimicrobial compounds help kill pathogenic bacteria and positively modulate our gut microbiome. This helps reduce intestinal inflammation and irritation, and reduces endotoxin.
These sorts of foods help to soothe the intestines and keep them clean, by scrubbing and sweeping them as they pass through, clearing the gut and quelling irritants and inflammation. Mushrooms and carrots are other foods which produce this effect.
3. High In Silica
Bamboo Shoots are one of the highest sources of the trace mineral silica (or silicon dioxide) which is an often overlooked or even unknown nutrient. Although not classified as an essential nutrient, it is considered highly beneficial. Silica stimulates collagen formation and benefits hair, nails, skin, and blood vessels subsequently. It is most often used to boost hair growth and in venous or circulatory formulations. Silica also supports joints and bones, and reduces bone loss.
4. High In Minerals
Depending on the variety, bamboo shoots can be a significant source of the trace minerals boron and manganese, as well as a moderate source of copper. However, the difference between varieties and origins is too great for bamboo shoots to be a reliable source of these minerals.
5. Aromatase Inhibitor(s)
Bamboo shoots contain some aromatase inhibiting compounds. Studies have even shown that bamboo shoots can decrease aromatase produced by adipose tissue, and reduce abdominal fat accumulation (caused by estrogen). Its principle effect on decreasing estrogen is likely more largely mediated by insoluble fiber however.
6. Improves Liver Function
Anything that reduces endotoxin and estrogen, typically improves liver function. Endotoxins act as a ‘constant poison’ to the liver, something it must continuously detoxify and ‘fight off’. Endotoxin increases inflammation, disrupts metabolic processes, and damages cells, and therefore is naturally harmful to the liver and its health & function, particularly so given the liver’s proximity to the gut and its role in filtering the body. Bamboo shoots and insoluble fiber help to keep the liver clean of these pollutants and their toxic effects.
7. Increases Thyroid Hormone (T4 & T3)
Since the liver converts much of T4 to the active T3, Bamboo Shoots improving liver function would increase this hormonal pathway.
Additionally, endotoxin, estrogen, inflammation, and toxic materials in the gut all inhibit thyroid hormone production, and so by reducing these significantly, bamboo shoots indirectly but profoundly increase thyroid hormone production and metabolic function.
Other Benefits of Bamboo Shoots:
- Supports Digestion
- Positively Modulates Gut Microbiome
- Balances Blood Sugar (High)
- Antioxidants
- Lowers LDL Cholesterol
- Lowers High Blood Pressure
All in all, eating bamboo shoots twice a week or incorporating them into the diet can provide much benefit for anyone trying to become healthier. Bamboo shoots are likely to benefit those with metabolic and hormonal disorders more than other conditions. On the other hand, this also makes it one the most passive and gentle or easy ways to provide benefit for those just trying to feel better and like themselves again.
