Ingredient Deep-Dives
Seed oils, rice arsenic, fish mercury, what the literature actually says.
Specific foods analyzed from the research angle. Not 'is it healthy', 'what does the literature actually show, what's the real exposure, what's the cost-benefit calculus?' This hub builds the site's scientific credibility.
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The complete guide for this hub.
How to Evaluate a Food Claim: The Larderlab Methodology
The seven-step method we run on every ingredient deep-dive: separate the layers of a claim, weigh the evidence tier, check the dose, and find the number that actually settles it.
Read the pillar →Find the topic that brought you here.
Each topic carries one buying decision with an evidence grade, plus the explainers behind it. From “what does magnesium do” to “which form to buy” in one step.
Farmed salmon is fattier and often higher in total omega-3 per serving, while wild is leaner with a better omega ratio and fewer calories. The honest comparison on nutrition, contaminants, color, cost, and why both are a healthy choice.
What we'd buy →Comparisons, explainers, and lists.
- 01Comparison8 min
Grass-Fed vs Grain-Fed Beef: The Ratio Improves, the Milligrams Do Not
USDA lists grass-fed ground beef at 88 mg of total omega-3 per 100 g, of which 1 mg is EPA and none is DHA. The fatty acid ratio genuinely improves on grass. The absolute amounts stay too small to matter for an omega-3 target.
- 02Listicle8 min
Foods High in Glutathione: Why You Cannot Really Eat Your Way to More
Glutathione is the body's own master antioxidant, but the glutathione in food is largely broken down before absorption. The foods that contain it, why the sulfur-amino-acid precursors matter more, and what the evidence says about boosting your own levels.
- 03Listicle8 min
Foods High in Lectins: The Real Risk, and Why Cooking Solves It
Lectins are proteins in beans, grains, and nightshades, and raw kidney beans really can make you sick, but cooking destroys them. The ranking, why the anti-lectin diet overstates the danger, and why most high-lectin foods are among the healthiest.
- 04Listicle8 min
Foods High in Nitrates: The Vegetables That Boost Nitric Oxide
Dietary nitrates from vegetables convert to nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessels and can lower blood pressure and aid exercise. The ranking led by beetroot and leafy greens, why vegetable nitrates are healthy while processed-meat nitrates are not, and what the beet-juice evidence shows.
- 05Listicle8 min
Foods High in Cholesterol: Which Ones Actually Matter for Your Heart
Dietary cholesterol turned out to have far less effect on blood cholesterol than saturated fat does, which is why the old 300 mg limit was dropped. The ranking of high-cholesterol foods, why eggs and shrimp are not the problem they were made out to be, and what actually raises LDL.
- 06Listicle8 min
Foods High in Purines: The Ones That Actually Raise Uric Acid
Purines break down into uric acid, and for people with gout the highest-risk foods are organ meats, certain seafood, and alcohol, especially beer. The ranking, why vegetable purines behave differently, and why sugar and drinks matter as much as meat.
- 07Listicle8 min
Foods High in Polyphenols: The Densest Sources, by Milligrams
Polyphenols are plant compounds measured in milligrams per 100 grams, and spices, cocoa, berries, coffee, and tea top the charts. The density ranking, why coffee is most people's biggest single source, and why the benefit tracks whole foods rather than extract pills.
- 08Listicle9 min
Healthy Fats: The Best Whole-Food Sources, by the Numbers
Most fat in a good diet should be unsaturated, and olive oil, avocado, nuts, seeds, and oily fish are the densest whole-food sources. The fat-per-serving numbers, what mono- and polyunsaturated mean, and how much fat per day.
- 09Listicle9 min
Foods High in Oxalates: The Densest Sources, by Milligrams
Spinach is the outlier at roughly 700 mg per cooked half cup, followed by rhubarb, Swiss chard, almonds, and beets. The mg-per-serving ranking, why boiling and a little calcium cut absorption, and who actually needs to care about oxalate.
- 10Listicle9 min
Low-Histamine Foods: What the Evidence on Histamine Intolerance Shows
Histamine intolerance is not an allergy but a problem degrading histamine, and freshness matters more than any single food. The best-tolerated foods, which ones to avoid, why cooking does not help, and how an elimination diet, not a blood test, confirms it.
- 11Explainer14 min
Microplastics in Food: The Exposure Is Real, and Two Sources Carry Most of It
The best particle-count estimate is 39,000 to 52,000 particles a year from food, and drinking only bottled water adds 90,000 against 4,000 for tap. One plastic teabag at 95 degrees Celsius releases 11.6 billion particles. The mass estimate spans 0.1 to 5 g a week, a fiftyfold range.
- 12Explainer14 min
BPA in Canned Food: Two Regulators, One Molecule, and a 20,000-Fold Disagreement
Five days of canned soup raised urinary BPA from 1.1 to 20.8 micrograms per litre, a 1,221 percent increase. EFSA cut its tolerable daily intake 20,000-fold in 2023 while FDA holds that current levels are safe. The EU banned BPA in food contact materials from January 2025.
- 13Explainer13 min
Stevia Side Effects: Most of Them Belong to the Erythritol in the Packet
Steviol glycosides are 200 to 400 times sweeter than sucrose, so the sweetener is a trace of the packet and the rest is bulking agent. EFSA set an erythritol acceptable daily intake of 0.5 g per kg body weight and found every population group exceeds it.
- 14Explainer14 min
Gluten Intolerance Symptoms: Three Different Conditions, and the Test That Only Works Before You Quit
Pooled biopsy-confirmed coeliac prevalence is 0.7 percent and its serology goes false negative on a gluten-free diet. In a blinded fructan versus gluten crossover, 24 of 59 people scored worst on fructan and 22 scored worst on placebo.
- 15Explainer12 min
How to Store Tomatoes: The 12 Degree Threshold and the Flavor Cost of the Fridge
Flavor volatiles are sensitive below 12 degrees Celsius, and 30 days at 4 degrees cut volatile concentration by 66 percent. Some genes recover on return to 20 degrees Celsius and some do not.
- 16Explainer9 min
Raw vs Cooked Vegetables: What Each Method Costs and Returns
Heating tomatoes for 30 minutes cut vitamin C by 29 percent and raised trans-lycopene 2.6-fold in the same samples. Boiling cabbage removed 56 percent of glucosinolates in 2 minutes. The answer is per compound.
- 17Explainer9 min
Acrylamide in Food: The Measured Levels and What Moves Them
Fast-food french fries measured 381 to 450 parts per billion in the FDA market basket while boiled potatoes were non-detect. The chemistry explains the spread, and four preparation decisions move it.
- 18Explainer8 min
Is Raw Milk Safe? The Relative Risk Has Been Quantified
Unpasteurised dairy is consumed by a small share of the population and causes most dairy outbreak illness. The modelled figures are 840 times more illnesses and 45 times more hospitalisations per unit consumed, and the nutritional claims do not survive review.
- 19Explainer9 min
Glyphosate in Food: Measured Exposure Against the Reference Dose
Detection is near-universal and the doses are small. US biomonitoring found 81.2 percent detection at a median of 0.392 micrograms per litre, and modelled intakes in a high-exposure cohort sat two orders of magnitude below the reference value. The agency disagreement is real and separate.
- 20Explainer8 min
Does Coffee Raise Cholesterol? It Depends on the Filter
Pooled across 12 randomised trials in 1,017 people, 45 days of coffee raised total cholesterol by 8.1 mg/dL and LDL by 5.4 mg/dL, with unfiltered coffee driving the effect. Boiled coffee carries 7.2 mg of cafestol a cup; drip-filtered carries almost none.
- 21Explainer8 min
Heavy Metals in Dark Chocolate: The Outlier Problem, by the Numbers
Across 72 products tested over eight years, 43 percent exceeded the California lead threshold and 35 percent the cadmium one, yet median levels sat below both. This is an outlier problem, and organic products tested worse.
- 22Explainer14 min
Seed Oil vs Butter vs Olive Oil: The Data-Backed Answer
Three claims conflated into one debate, we separate the linoleic-acid, oxidation, and inflammation questions and state our position.
- 23Explainer11 min
Arsenic in Rice: The Numbers by Variety and Origin
Inorganic arsenic by rice variety (basmati, jasmine, brown, white) and origin, with cooking methods that reduce exposure.
- 24Explainer9 min
Glycemic Index: The Number, Its Limits, and a Reference Table
Glycemic index vs glycemic load, a reference table of common foods, and why the meal context beats any single GI number.
- 25Explainer9 min
Is Canola Oil Bad For You? What the Evidence Actually Shows
Canola is ~63% monounsaturated, ~10% ALA omega-3, low saturated, and neutral-to-favorable in lipid trials. The fear narrative outruns the data.
- 26Explainer8 min
Is MSG Bad For You? The Evidence vs the Myth
The double-blind evidence does not support MSG sensitivity at normal dietary doses. What the trials, the biochemistry, and the 1968 scare actually show.
- 27Explainer8 min
How Much Sugar Per Day? The Added-Sugar Limit, by the Evidence
The limit is added sugar, not the sugar in fruit or milk. Keep added sugar under 10% of calories (about 50 g/day), and ideally near 25 g/day for women and 36 g/day for men. The daily number, where it comes from, and how to find it on a label.
- 28Explainer8 min
How Much Sodium Per Day? The Number, and Where It Hides
The federal upper limit is 2,300 mg of sodium per day, about one teaspoon of salt; the American Heart Association's ideal is closer to 1,500 mg. The daily number, why most people take in ~3,400 mg, and where three quarters of it actually comes from.
- 29Explainer8 min
How Much Caffeine Per Day? The Safe Limit, by the Numbers
Regulators treat up to 400 mg of caffeine a day as safe for healthy adults, roughly four 8-oz cups of coffee; pregnancy caps at 200 mg and teenagers at 100 mg. The daily number, what it is in real drinks, and why timing matters as much as dose.
- 30Explainer9 min
How Many Eggs Per Day? What the Evidence Actually Says
For most healthy people, up to one whole egg a day fits a healthy diet without raising heart-disease risk in the cohort data. What one egg contains, why the cholesterol cap was dropped, and who should still be cautious.
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