# Are red cabbage and brussel sprouts really "unsafe"?



## Tax (Dec 3, 2017)

So...I've done some research and I'm finding myself wondering why these two things in particular are considered unsafe.


The reason I've seen given that they contain compounds that destroy or interfere with thiamine. I have found some evidence of this here: http://helid.digicollection.org/en/d/Js2900e/8.2.html

The problem I see with this is that the compounds responsible for this are polyphenols and flavonoids, which are highly beneficial nutrients in and of themselves. 


The other issue is that these compounds are also found in high concentrations in *lots* of other foods that are considered completely safe and healthy for rats (berries, apples, soynuts, etc.). So why do red cabbage and brussel sprouts get singled out as being bad when things like blueberries are considered totally safe and fine to feed?


Also, these compounds are listed here as being heat-stable, so cooking them would do absolutely nothing to make them "safer."

Is there something else I'm missing? Because based on what I've found, the whole thiamine thing just doesn't make any sense.


----------



## Asiposea (Dec 16, 2016)

I don't get it either. I often read a lot of wonky info on rat nutrition- breeders have different info so it's hard to go to the 'pros'. Rat nutrition is beyond me sometimes. It's like this thread on raw peanuts. I've since learned more on raw peanuts and toxins, but I haven't been able to find anything on them being 'antinutrients'.


----------



## Fu-Inle (Jan 22, 2015)

Every food in existence contains toxins to some extent. An animals body is perfectly equipped to safely break down small amounts of toxins its when an animal consumes a large amount is that there is a problem. But once there is an instance of a pet eating a lethal amount of a cetain food, suddenly it blows up on the internet and every website parrots the same information from another website without questioning. Like the poppyseed incident on this forum. One persons rat ate a LARGE quantity of poppy seeds and died and I can guarantee if you ask this forum whether your rat can eat a cracker with like 3 poppy seeds on it there would be an uproar of warnings that your rat could die. It's like Chinese whispers, somehow eating a bag of poppy seeds morphed into "if your rat so much as looks at a poppy seed he will DIE"


----------

