"It is our hope that this book offers a focused discussion of cereals and pulses as important contributors to health, and how we can improve the quantity and quality of their functional components in the diet throughout the value chain, i.e. breeding, production, postharvest storage, and food processing," note editors Lucy Lu, Rong Tsao and Fereidoon Shahidi in the introductory overview to this survey of current research findings.
Carbs in the Paleo Diet?
As early as 8,000 years ago, Stone Age farmers across Europe were working their crop lands intensely, irrigating and strategically applying manure, according to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Researchers based their study on the chemical composition of charred cereals and pulses — the edible seeds of legumes — at 13 Neolithic sites spread from Bulgaria to England, dating from 4,400 to almost 8,000 years ago.
The study’s findings of early intense land management suggest a greater importance of cereals and pulses in the typical European Stone Age diet and calls into question assumptions of a meat-heavy diet.