779: Almonds | Skeptical Sunday

779: Almonds | Skeptical Sunday

[00:00:00] Jordan Harbinger: Welcome to the show. I'm Jordan Harbinger and this is Skeptical Sunday, a special edition of The Jordan Harbinger Show where fact-checker and comedian David C. Smalley and I break down a topic that you might never have thought about. We open things up and debunk common misconceptions topics such as why the Olympics are kind of a sham, why expiration dates are a bunch of nonsense, why tipping makes absolutely no sense, recycling, banned foods, toothpaste, chemtrails, and a whole lot more.

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[00:01:15] We all want to be healthy, but what do we do when healthy for the human body is devastating to the human environment? Almonds are a staple of a healthy diet. Okay, we've all heard that, but as of 2021, US consumption of almonds has amounted to about 1.56 million metric tons. That is a lot of almonds. And Americans now consume more than 10 times as many almonds as we did in 1965, but this is a Skeptical Sunday. So you know the news, it just can't be good.

[00:01:43] Comedian and skeptic, David C. Smalley is here to tell us what's going on with the world of almonds.

[00:01:49] David C. Smalley: Jordan, I'd like to come on here and just give the facts and let you make up your own mind and let everyone make their own decisions.

[00:01:56] Jordan Harbinger: Mm-hmm.

[00:01:56] David C. Smalley: There's not much mind to be made. Almonds are absolutely horrific for the environment. I usually like to save that stuff for the end. No, I can't believe it. And by the way, almond milk is neither of those things. And if you can't tell, I'm a little pissed off about it.

[00:02:12] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah, you're getting worked up, but I want to get into it.

[00:02:14] David C. Smalley: Okay. So we hear words like organic and we think it's automatically amazing, healthy, and good for the environment. And that makes us feel better, and when we feel better, we justify a higher price. Now, I can come on and ruin organic foods for people another time. I'm sure I have plenty of people to piss off there, but almonds have to be one of the worst offenders and also one of the most misunderstood health foods of the modern era.

[00:02:41] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah. Most people assume almonds are great. In fact, I love almonds, almond milk. I like those almond crackers that you get at the store. I'm kind of an offender when it comes to this and a lot of vegans rely on almonds as kind of a primary staple of their diet, especially here in California.

[00:02:57] David C. Smalley: And that's what pisses me off. We can all look at diesel trucks or smoking V8 engines, and we can accept how bad that is. Like we all agree, we all understand it.

[00:03:08] Jordan Harbinger: Mm-hmm.

[00:03:08] David C. Smalley: And we can enjoy it, occasionally. We can go to a drag race or a monster truck rally or whatever, but at least no one's pretending that exhaust is saving the turtles. But for some reason, when it comes to almonds and almond milk, we lift it on a pedestal, and then we buy it by the case.

[00:03:23] Jordan Harbinger: I'm guilty. Like I said, you know, we do a lot of that around here. If I'm honest. I've got all kinds of weird pseudo milks in my fridge. I've got the silk, I've got the oat stuff. I've got stuff that I never knew could be turned into milk. So I feel like this is a stupid question of course, but you just said almond milk is neither of those things. I mean, I notice that almonds don't have nipples. What is almond milk?

[00:03:44] David C. Smalley: Well, you're right, Jordan. You're very observant. Almonds do not have nipples. So it's not milk, and by the way, it's also not almonds, it's nut-flavored vitamin water, Jordan. That's what you're drinking. And your typical almond milk is about 95 percent water.

[00:04:02] Jordan Harbinger: Okay.

[00:04:03] David C. Smalley: Three percent — God knows what, like sugar, salt, emulsifiers, vitamins, and absorbent acid — and two percent almonds. That's right, Jordan. I just said almond milk is 98 percent other, two percent almonds.

[00:04:17] Jordan Harbinger: Huh? It's incredible. They can even call it almond milk, but aren't our bodies something like 90-plus percent water? I mean—

[00:04:22] David C. Smalley: Okay.

[00:04:23] Jordan Harbinger: —maybe a different argument.

[00:04:24] David C. Smalley: I guess I'll just dip my Apple watch into your soup and call it digital.

[00:04:28] Jordan Harbinger: Okay. Hmm. Digital soup? Is that some Bluetooth I'm tasting?

[00:04:33] David C. Smalley: Exactly.

[00:04:34] Jordan Harbinger: But for people who drink almond milk because they believe dairy cows are mistreated, okay, which is, by the way, a hundred percent seemingly true from most of these big dairies. Is there at least some semblance of ethics here?

[00:04:45] David C. Smalley: I have to say I've actually visited some dairy farms specifically for issues like this and some of the dairy cows — I don't want to piss anybody off here. Some of the dairy cows actually have it pretty good. There are back scratchers. They can choose when to go up and have the milk pulled and when not to. Some of them are treated pretty good for the most part. It's not all, you know, PETA videos, I promise you.

[00:05:06] Jordan Harbinger: Okay.

[00:05:06] David C. Smalley: It's not a great environment and it's definitely dairy milk, dairy cow milk is definitely not only the worst for me, I'm literally allergic, but it's also the worst for the environment out of every milk, including almond milk.

[00:05:19] Jordan Harbinger: All right. That's interesting. I didn't know that.

[00:05:20] David C. Smalley: But not every dairy cow is mistreated. That's also a misnomer.

[00:05:24] Jordan Harbinger: Okay.

[00:05:24] David C. Smalley: But is there some semblance of ethics? Sure. As long as you value cows more than bees and value discomfort over mass murder.

[00:05:33] Jordan Harbinger: Okay.

[00:05:34] David C. Smalley: Okay, clearly I'm being a smart ass here.

[00:05:35] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah.

[00:05:36] David C. Smalley: But, let me clarify. onegreenplanet.org shows that about 30 to 50 million bees die per year due to almond farms. Because almond trees are treated with pesticides. Yes. Even the organic ones and those chemicals are harmful to bees. People's minds are exploding right now. What organic?

[00:05:55] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah. I thought organic meant no pesticides. What the hell?

[00:05:58] David C. Smalley: Nope. For the most part, it means less or more environmentally friendly or fewer, it never means no pesticides at all. So—

[00:06:08] Jordan Harbinger: Aah.

[00:06:08] David C. Smalley: —again, I think I want to cover all organic foods on an entire Skeptical Sundays because it's definitely misunderstood. But those chemicals that are used are very harmful to bees. Men's Journal published an article saying that almond growers heavily doused their trees with pesticides. They get more chemicals than any other crop in California where almonds are typically grown. And this is according to documents cited by The Guardian. The pesticides kill the bees, or they weaken their immune systems, making them more susceptible to disease. So when almond farmers return the bees to beekeepers, yes, they rent them because these bees aren't native to California. Most of them, when they return them, they get sick and die.

[00:06:49] Jordan Harbinger: Hmm.

[00:06:49] David C. Smalley: So Patrick Pynes, an organic beekeeper in Arizona, told The Guardian, quote, "The bees and the almond groves are being exploited and disrespected. They're in severe decline because our human relationship to them has become so destructive," end quote. And also, by the way, they require bees to wake up early from hibernation to attend the crop season, so not only are we killing them by the millions, we're also making them set alarms on their day off.

[00:07:18] Jordan Harbinger: There is nothing worse than having to get up as early on your day off. You don't want to see me up at 5:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning because my drunk neighbors setting off fireworks again.

[00:07:27] David C. Smalley: Yeah.

[00:07:27] Jordan Harbinger: And let alone to pollinate some or do some work outside.

[00:07:30] David C. Smalley: At this point, pesticide me to death. Don't wake me up on my day off. And by the way, it doesn't stop the bee murder. It takes a little over one gallon of water to make one almond.

[00:07:41] Jordan Harbinger: What? That's a ton. That's got to add up so fast.

[00:07:43] David C. Smalley: It means one serving of almonds is 23 gallons of water.

[00:07:47] Jordan Harbinger: It's like a whole bath.

[00:07:48] David C. Smalley: One pound of almonds, 1,900 gallons of water. And it actually takes about three gallons per almond according to the almond board if you include water from rain and other sources. But that one-gallon measurement is just focusing on ground and surface water that's typically used in almond farming. And before you just switch to another nut milk like pistachio or walnut, they're pretty water-intensive as well, so that's not really a solution.

[00:08:14] Jordan Harbinger: Mmm.

[00:08:14] David C. Smalley: And I'd like to point out that I, as a comedian, just said nut milk and didn't make a joke.

[00:08:19] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah, I am indeed proud of you for that. But obviously, my mind went there as well. I got to say the bar for these for those nuts hangs quite low.

[00:08:26] David C. Smalley: Okay. Okay.

[00:08:28] Jordan Harbinger: Continue.

[00:08:29] David C. Smalley: Keep in mind, 100 percent of the almonds that you buy in the US, I said 100 percent of the almonds that you buy in the US and 80 percent of the almonds in the world are produced right here in California.

[00:08:41] Jordan Harbinger: Oh wow.

[00:08:42] David C. Smalley: Where there is already constantly issues with water shortages.

[00:08:48] Jordan Harbinger: We'll be right back.

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[00:10:09] Now, for the rest of Skeptical Sunday.

[00:10:12] There's all these commercials. Like I don't water my grass. I make sure I take short baths or showers mean. Almond farmers are like, I don't care how much water I use because this is my business, but f please don't water your lawn or like feed your pets.

[00:10:27] David C. Smalley: Yep.

[00:10:28] Jordan Harbinger: Ugh.

[00:10:28] David C. Smalley: People are walking around shaking a handful of almonds going, "I'm doing my part."

[00:10:31] Jordan Harbinger: Right.

[00:10:32] David C. Smalley: And then every bite is a gallon of water. I mean, it's just incredible.

[00:10:36] Jordan Harbinger: And they're getting the water from somewhere. Where do they get the water from if we're in a desert?

[00:10:40] David C. Smalley: Yeah. So low-income areas have water diverted from them to route water to almond farms.

[00:10:46] Jordan Harbinger: Mmm.

[00:10:46] David C. Smalley: And then to make sure the almond farms can have even access to more water if they need it, those low-income areas are often placed under water use restrictions, just in case the almond farms need to tap into more resources.

[00:10:59] Jordan Harbinger: So already struggling people have to struggle more so that these companies can make profits by growing water-intensive crops in the middle of a frigging desert.

[00:11:07] David C. Smalley: Yep.

[00:11:07] Jordan Harbinger: Got it. I know also there's some aquifer stuff going on. It gets even worse.

[00:11:12] David C. Smalley: Yeah. Yeah. So if they're using stuff like that, like fresh water from streams or anything like that, like a lot of almond farmers do, they're actually reducing local resources and that can lead to shallow, warmer waters than expected in nature, which causes salmon to die from a disease called gill rot.

[00:11:29] Jordan Harbinger: Ugh. So almonds are healthy for you but it's kind of not worth it if it wrecks the entire environment.

[00:11:34] David C. Smalley: Well, sometimes, and yeah, that's the downside. Almonds are known or seen to be this amazing food for the human body. The Atlantic, in an article titled The Dark Side of Almond Use in 2014, writes this week, another large study added to the body of known cardiovascular benefits of eating almonds, every ounce eaten daily, was associated with a 3.5 percent decreased risk of heart disease 10 years later. Almonds are already known to help with weight loss, help prevent diabetes, help potentially mitigate arthritis, inhibit cancer cell growth, and decrease Alzheimer's risk. And a strong case could be made that almonds are, this is what they say, nutritionally the best single food a person could eat. And that's a quote. But then they go on to say that 44 percent more land in California is being used to farm almonds than was 10 years ago. So the problem's only getting worse.

[00:12:26] Jordan Harbinger: Sure.

[00:12:27] David C. Smalley: And that thousands of endangered king salmon in Northern California's Klamath River are threatened by low water levels because the water is being diverted to almond farms. So, we have more and more salmon dying of gill rot.

[00:12:38] Jordan Harbinger: So people are weighing the health benefits against destroying the environment.

[00:12:41] David C. Smalley: Experts say that the real question is, what is the cost of growing nutritious food? And how can we minimize its environmental and societal costs? Because we need to provide food for, you know, growing populations. We need to protect our environment, of course, but we also need to bring economic prosperity to local farming communities. So as long as there is a demand for almonds and the market wants it, then growers are going to continue to grow almonds, and they're going to grow them in the most efficient climates. And those climates just happen to be places where they're water stressed. So, California, Australia, Spain, Iran, and Morocco, they're water stressed, but they're perfect climates for almonds. So—

[00:13:20] Jordan Harbinger: Hmm.

[00:13:20] David C. Smalley: —do we shift to a more sustainable, healthy product, or do we shift to a more efficient way of specifically growing almonds?

[00:13:27] Jordan Harbinger: The climate might be efficient because of temperature and sunlight, but the rest of this sounds incredibly inefficient — water use, its effect on other nearby ecosystems and species, the bee thing, the salmon thing, I mean, this is all horrendously inefficient.

[00:13:41] David C. Smalley: Right. So those experts go on to really kind of talk about how the solution is not to force growers to abandon growing almonds altogether or necessarily any other crop. But to rather identify the most productive croplands and then shift water to those instead. But again, if the climate's not right for almonds, even if the water's good, they're still going to have to divert some sort of growth there on that cropland. So we need to ensure that our limited water resources are used in the most efficient way possible. And that's whether you're talking about growing crops or taking showers or producing energy or whatever. And yes, almonds are generally known to be good for you, but let me throw this curve ball into this mix. So nuts, including almonds have been linked to an increased risk of kidney stones as well as medicinal interactions. Nobody thinks about this.

[00:14:26] Jordan Harbinger: No.

[00:14:26] David C. Smalley: But according to the India Times 100 grams of almonds contain 2.3 milligrams of manganese, which that's the upper limit of your daily requirement of that mineral. You require about 1.3 to 2.3 milligrams of manganese every. And it's very likely that besides almonds, you're also consuming other sources of manganese such as whole grains or leafy vegetables and even tea. And a diet rich in manganese can interfere with your intake of certain medications. Things like laxatives may not work properly.

[00:14:59] Jordan Harbinger: Okay.

[00:14:59] David C. Smalley: Your blood pressure medication, and even antibiotics. So if you must eat almonds, it's actually recommended that you don't have more than one-third of a cup per day. And eating more than that can lead to constipation, bloating—

[00:15:12] Jordan Harbinger: Well, yeah.

[00:15:13] David C. Smalley: —upset stomach.

[00:15:14] Jordan Harbinger: Sure.

[00:15:14] David C. Smalley: And even vitamin E overdoses, which can lead to diarrhea, weakness, and even blurred vision.

[00:15:20] Jordan Harbinger: Wait, wait. So it can lead to constipation or too much vitamin E, which leads to the opposite of constipation. I'm calling BS on that one.

[00:15:26] David C. Smalley: Maybe they just cancel each other out.

[00:15:28] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah, they cancel each other out.

[00:15:29] David C. Smalley: And then finally, you know, almonds do increase toxins in the body. Only myhealth.com has this quote, they say, almonds, especially the bitter ones. Can even lead to cyanide poisoning.

[00:15:40] Jordan Harbinger: Hmm.

[00:15:40] David C. Smalley: The HCN level is much higher in bitter almonds as compared to the other sweet almonds and high levels of HCN can result in breathing problems, nervous breakdown, choking, and can even be fatal. Therefore, they're restricted for pregnant and lactating women. So—

[00:15:55] Jordan Harbinger: Wow.

[00:15:55] David C. Smalley: —as healthy as you may think they are, having them very small and in moderation is always a good idea, anyway.

[00:16:01] Jordan Harbinger: I was going to say, you probably have to eat just a ton of almonds to be like, "Oh, I have enough cyanide in me." It's like apple seeds. They have cyanide in, but you probably have to eat like pounds of them all at once.

[00:16:13] David C. Smalley: Well, that's why they can't give you a number because it depends on how bitter.

[00:16:15] Jordan Harbinger: Sure.

[00:16:16] David C. Smalley: If it's concentrated, mostly bitter almonds, it's going to be a much smaller amount. If you're eating sweeter almonds, you could probably get away with more, but it doesn't sound like they are the miracle food that we once thought they were.

[00:16:26] Jordan Harbinger: So if people are wanting to switch to a better milk, we all know there are a million options, so what are people supposed to do now that you've ruined almond milk for everyone?

[00:16:34] David C. Smalley: Okay, so ediblebrooklyn.com has a really cool, fully comprehensive article on this. They do the pros and cons and takeaways from each milk.

[00:16:43] Jordan Harbinger: Of course, a Brooklyn-based website has some hipster comparison chart of all the alternative fake milks.

[00:16:49] David C. Smalley: You know how Jordan, they analyzed hemp, which I didn't even realize was a milk until about a month ago.

[00:16:54] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah.

[00:16:54] David C. Smalley: They did soy, rice, coconut, you name it. And in the end they say that when you pit alternative milks against one another, calling one of them a winner isn't quite possible. And that's because too little research has been done so far. And too much of the research that does exist has been done by the plant-based milk producers themselves. And I'm so glad they point that out because a lot of times we let these industries self-regulate and that's just a race to the bottom, right?

[00:17:19] Jordan Harbinger: I had to check the source on what it was like, "Almonds are one of the healthiest things you can eat," I was like, wait, wait, wait. Who wrote that? Because that sounds like some ish that the almond board was like, we're just going to write this and no one's going to argue with us. But it's from the Atlantic.

[00:17:31] David C. Smalley: And on the converse, whenever people, you know say the opposite, that it's killing you and you eat a handful, you're going to die of cyanide poisoning.

[00:17:38] Jordan Harbinger: Right.

[00:17:38] David C. Smalley: Is that big hemp? You know who's doing that? You know what I mean?

[00:17:41] Jordan Harbinger: It's big hemp. Big hemp is busy making other products for other reasons, I think. They're laying on a couch somewhere, big hemp.

[00:17:47] David C. Smalley: Big hemp sounds like a rapper.

[00:17:49] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah. It actually, it does sound like a rapper. Big hemp is power chugging a gallon of ice cream and watching Netflix, because that's what those guys are all up to right now.

[00:17:57] David C. Smalley: Before his show at the Hollywood Bowl.

[00:17:59] Jordan Harbinger: Exactly, exactly.

[00:18:00] David C. Smalley: So they do say this in that same article though, they say, that hemp seeds are a valuable nutrition source and they contain protein and healthy fats. Hemp farming does require more water than oat soy or pea milk, but way less water than almond milk or even cow's milk.

[00:18:16] So really it's a matter of what's most important to you and what research you can find personally. I'm going to try hemp milk.

[00:18:23] Jordan Harbinger: Go for it, man.

[00:18:24] David C. Smalley: In the near future, I'm going to give that a shot. That seems like the best that fits me. The Beet did a similar analysis.

[00:18:30] Jordan Harbinger: B-E-E-T. The beat sounds like a music magazine, but this is like a vegetable magazine.

[00:18:36] David C. Smalley: Right. A vegetable magazine. The Beet. They listed pistachio milk, oat milk, soy milk, and hemp milk as their top four on their list. But each of them have their own downsides. Personally, I'll stick with my favorite milk, Coke Zero.

[00:18:49] Jordan Harbinger: Ah, straight from the nips of the Coke Fairy. Yeah. Thanks, David.

[00:18:53] Any suggestions on topics for Skeptical Sunday, please do keep those coming. You can shoot them to me as a DM on Instagram. You can hit me on LinkedIn or just email me jordan@jordanharbinger.com. A link to the show notes for the episode can always be found on the website@jordanharbinger.com as well. Transcripts in the show notes. I'm at @JordanHarbinger on Twitter and Instagram. Again, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. There's less crazies there, I've found. You could find David Smalley at @davidcsmalley on all social media platforms, at davidcsmalley.com, or better yet, on his podcast, The David C. Smalley Show. Links to all that in the show notes as well.

[00:19:27] This show is created in association with PodcastOne. My team is Jen Harbinger, Jase Sanderson, Robert Fogarty, Ian Baird, Millie Ocampo, Josh Ballard, and Gabriel Mizrahi. Our advice and opinions are our own. And I'm a lawyer, but I'm not your lawyer and you shouldn't trust my advice even if I were so do your own research before implementing anything you hear on the show. Remember, we rise by lifting others. Share the show with those you love. Hey, if you found the episode useful, share it with somebody else who needs to hear it, if you know somebody who's into it. In the meantime, do your best to apply what you hear on the show, so you can live what you listen, and we'll see you next time.

[00:20:00] You are about to hear a preview of The Jordan Harbinger Show where we expose how patent trolls shake down innocent victims using legal loopholes in abuse of the system.

[00:20:12] Austin Meyer: I was working at a trade show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where I was sitting there in a sweltering hot aircraft hangar showing X-Plane, my flight simulator to a steady parade of sweaty pilots wandering through the hangar to look at my various wares, and all of a sudden the phone rings, "Hello, I notice you've been sued for a patent infringement. I'd be happy to represent you for a price." And I said, "No, I'm not going to settle with somebody I've never even heard of before for infringing on a supposed patent I've never heard of before." And he said, "Okay, just remember your defense cost is going to run around three million.

[00:20:45] Jordan Harbinger: Wow.

[00:20:46] Austin Meyer: The patent claims to own the idea of one computer, checking another computer to see if the computer program is allowed to run. The patent we were sued on, as I recall, had 113 claims and every claim was almost the same. In other words, one claim would say, a computer accessing another computer to unlock software. And the next thing would be, software unlocked by one computer accessing another computer. Notice just the same thing over and over 113 times phrased a little bit differently each time because since it took us four years and two million dollars to overturn one of those sentences, they had the same thing written down 112 more times. So they could put us through this for the rest of our lives.

[00:21:29] Jordan Harbinger: For more with Austin Meyer, including the details of his investigation into patent trolls and why none of us are safe, check out episode 326 of The Jordan Harbinger Show.