Claims people make across the dinner table, checked against the sources and the numbers. Each one gives both sides their due, says what isn't known, and ends with a link to try it on your own plate.
Acceptable daily intake: the amount you could eat every day for life without appreciable risk, set by food-safety bodies.
LOAEL
Lowest dose at which any harmful effect was seen in studies.
MOE
Margin of exposure: how many times smaller your dose is than the lowest harmful dose. Bigger is safer. EFSA says what margin it counts as 'no concern'.
RAE
Retinol activity equivalents: vitamin A counted as what your body can actually make from it.
RDA
Recommended Dietary Allowance: the US daily amount that covers the needs of nearly all healthy people of a given age and sex.
AI
Adequate Intake: the US daily amount used when there isn't enough evidence to set an RDA.
Heme iron
The form of iron in meat and fish; absorbed much better than the nonheme iron in plants.
Nonheme iron
The form of iron in plants; less well absorbed, and easily blocked by tea, cocoa and phytate.
Provitamin
Something your body can turn into a vitamin, like beta-carotene into vitamin A.
Glycoalkaloids
Natural pesticides made by potatoes, tomatoes and eggplants.
Oxalate
A compound that binds calcium; high in spinach; linked to kidney stones in large studies.
Nitrate
Found naturally in leafy and root vegetables; has a safe daily limit, but is also studied for lowering blood pressure.
Glucosinolates
The cabbage family's defense chemicals. When the plant is chewed or cut, they break down into sharp-tasting mustard oils.
Goitrin
A breakdown product of progoitrin, found in the cabbage family. At high doses it reduces how much iodine the thyroid takes up.
Phytate
A plant's phosphorus store, mostly in seeds. It binds zinc and iron in the gut, so less of them is absorbed.
Lectin
A protein that binds sugars. The lectin in raw kidney beans causes severe vomiting; thorough boiling destroys it.
Furanocoumarins
Compounds in celery, parsnip and their relatives that make skin burn more easily in sunlight.
Cucurbitacins
Very bitter defense compounds of the squash and cucumber family. Bred out of store-bought varieties; not destroyed by cooking.
Agaritine
A natural compound in white button mushrooms. Cooking reduces it; long-term mouse studies are mixed.
Evidence grade
How strong the proof is: a regulator's assessment and human trials count most; animal and cell studies least.
Assumed zero
USDA didn't measure it; it assumes none is there (for example vitamin B12 in plants).
ARfD
Acute reference dose: the most you can take in within one day, or a single meal, without appreciable health risk, set by food-safety bodies.
Cyanogenic glycosides
Plant compounds that release hydrogen cyanide when the plant's cells are crushed or chewed. Found in cassava, lima beans, bitter almonds and apple seeds.
Amygdalin
The cyanogenic glycoside in almonds and apple seeds. Bitter almonds contain hundreds of times more than sweet ones.
Isoflavones
Soy compounds that act weakly like the hormone estrogen.
