Roast Beetroot Dip

Roast beet root dip contains youth giving High folate foods and other minerals

This roast beetroot dip is a high folate food. It is a much sweeter dip than most beet hummus dips, so it is not very hummus like the other beet hummus dip that can be found here. The secret ingredient is anise which adds an amazing zing that is not detectible as anise. This dip is wonderful alone, and as well is good on top of salads like that seen below. Beets are a food that should be incorporated as regularly as possible because of their high mineral content. They contain all the essential minerals, but are especially high in manganese, potassium, and they contain moderate levels of magnesium.

WHY ARE HIGH FOLATE FOODS SO IMPORTANT TO INCLUDE IN THE DIET?

Beets are very high in folate with about 37% in one cup of beets. Foods high in folate are an essential part of the diet for any pregnant woman or woman of childbearing years given the radically vital importance of folate in the neural tube closure that occurs before the 6th week point or before most women know they are pregnant. The neural tube closure can be simplistically thought of as the spine and brain being enclosed in endoderm and ectoderm or skin. A baby will not live if the base of the nervous system is exposed to the air. Folate is also high in legumes such as the garbanzo beans used in this recipe which also provide fuel for the healthy bacteria in your gut.

High folate foods are also important for all people as it is a primary methyl donor in multiple metabolic cycles in the body. Folate is a methyl donor (carbon donor which is one of the essential molecules of life) for epigenetic changes in the DNA. Epigenetic changes are positive or negative effects on healthy gene expression depending upon your environment, diet, and experiences. Folate is involved in purine and pyrimidine biosynthesis (DNA and RNA) and methionine regeneration. Folate is used for metabolism of all amino acids. It is used to synthesize polyamines and phospholipids (certain types of fats used in cell membranes). All these aforementioned processes are a part of 1 Carbon Metabolism of which Folate plays a central role. In general, if you thought of a cell structure on it’s own, almost all parts of the cell would have folate which contribute to the synthesis or change of that part. So lacking folate can be pretty dire. If you want to maintain your youth, you will include a ton of folate in your diet because essentially aging is the degradation of cells and the cellular processes. In fact, levels of polyamines are associated with longevity and they are used in all many of the steps of transforming DNA into proteins and growth of the cell. Leafy greens, beans, papaya, and beets are high in folate. The total amount of tahini in this recipe also contains about 5 % of your daily Folate needs.

The Minerality of Beets:

The mangenese in this roast beetroot dip provides fuel for five super cool mononuclear manganese-dependent enzymes: superoxide dismutase, oxalate oxidase (OxOx), oxalate decarboxylase (OxDC), homoprotocatechuate 3,4-dioxygenase, and lipoxygenase (LOX). These enzymes all in different ways help remove toxic compounds from the body such as free radicals. Free radicals can form on a variety of different structures so different enzymes are needed to get rid of them. Superoxide dismutase is actually one of the sweetest enzymes because without it we could not live on Oxygen. We need oxygen to breath and power our body but Oxygen is a little bit sensitive and can become toxic if it get’s hurt to much. In otherwords oxygen can become a free radical easily when it absorbs other beings electrons. It can then carry those electrons around in a reactive state and damage other things in your cell. To avoid this we have the good guy divorce attorney, SOD. Unlike most divorce attorneys, SOD is a healer and says “yo, O2-, your making too many free radicals around you, so I am going to transform you into two beings that are healthier apart than together.” Then SOD turns free radical O2 or O2- into O2 and H2O2.

Lipooxygenase is one of those enzymes (besides COX) that helps turn Arachondonic acid (aka a fat derived from phospholipid that needs linoleic acid to be formed) into inflammatory mediators. You may think, what? I don’t want inflammation in my body! But inflammation is only a problem when it is excessive. Some levels of inflammation serve a crucial purpose in destroying unwanted things. For example in the case of LOX. LOX turns certain types of fats that are in the cell into inflammatory mediators used by the immune system. These mediators are called Leukotrines and they go to sites of damage or disease and act as an immune system telephone to call mediators of their own cells (autocrine) or other cells (paracrine) to send or release factors to try to fix what went wrong.

Lipoxygenase balances

Lipooxygenase is pretty cool too because it has both pro and anti inflammatory effects. Although inflammation is generally thought of as a bad thing, this is not the perfect way of viewing things. For example, if you have an injury or temporary disease state, it is the modulators of inflammation, including the arachidonic acid pathway that work to clean the area up by promoting inflammation which then calls the body to send other mediators of the immune system and the circulatory system to send over cellular factors that are necessary for healing. Manganese found in beet root is utilized in chemical reactions in these pathways as a co-factor. A co-factor is a little molecule that is not a protein and serves to activate or inactivate another enzyme by binding to a spot on the enzyme. You can think of a co-factor as the kill switch on an engine or a motorcycle. If this is not pushed to the right spot (bound), no amount of gas, or turning the engine over is going to start the machine.

One of the big reason that atherosclerosis and then heart disease occurs is because of the oxygenation of fat deposits in arteries. Some evidence points to 15-LOX, an enzyme from the Arachadonic pathway, as contributing to atherosclerosis. But the real cause of atherosclerosis is excessive consumption of animal protein and carnitine that increases levels of TMAO. Sometimes the inflammation in your body cannot heal a situation and you need to change your diet to heal metabolic diseases. There is evidence showing that 15-LOX has the metabolite 15-HETE which is a compound that has anti-inflammatory effects. This compound inhibits SuperOxide production. Superoxide is a compound that causes oxidation of plaque deposits leading to atherosclerosis. 15-HETE also prevents migration of other cells (PMN) across the walls of the blood vessels that would cause inflammation. Finally 15-HETE causes activation of lipoxins which are also anti-inflammatory.

Finally, this 15-HETE metabolite helps with the production of the anti-inflammatory mediatorys DHA, resolvins, and protectins. So consuming beets on a regular basis, along with other sources of maganese like in the garbanzo beans here will decrease inflammation in your body and contribute to healing of the system. ( Wittwer, J., Hersberger, M., 2007)

Beet Root Dip is Super Easy:

Pre-Prep: Roast beetroot day before or earlier in day: 45 minutes

1 medium sized beet, cut into quarters, will use 3/4 peeled
2 T tahini
1/4 c lime juice (don’t use all at once)
1 very large garlic clove
1/4 t salt
1 1/8 c chickpeas/garbanzo beans
1/4 t anise seeds
1/4 – 1/2 c filtered water

Blend all the ingredients except anise until smooth, adding more water as needed. Taste the dip to see if the acidity is balanced, and add more lime juice as needed. Add the anise seeds at the very end. Whir on high to break the seeds up and incorporate.

Serving Suggestions:

Plain with tortilla chips
Dipped in Chips
As a spread in vegan sushi with avocado and mango
As a spread in vegan sushi with mango and squash blossoms or cucumber

Topped with Feta cheese on top of gluten-free toasts made from older gluten-free bread
As a spread on a vegan sandwich

Roast Beet Root Vegan Salad Bowl:

Toss chopped arugula, red leaf lettuce and sprouts together with olive oil and lemon juice if desired. Top with the following:
1/2 Grated Carrot
1/4 Diced raw red pepper
1/2 avocado
1/4 sliced cucumbers
1/3 c roast beetroot dip
1 t Chipotle Sunflower Seeds (Briefly sauté 1/2 c sunflower seeds in 1 T olive oil and 1/4 t chipotle chili or adobe chili powder. Add 1/2 t salt. This is a lot of salt for the amount of sunflower seeds, but these are meant to be used in small amounts on top of other foods as a flavor additive.

A Big Reason to Consume Manganese and Beets is to Prevent Disease:

Lack of manganese in the diet can contribute to the formation of a wide range of metabolic diseases, including Metabolic Syndrome, Heart Disease, Type 2 Diabetes, If you are eating meat and dairy as regular foods in your diet that means you are consuming a large quantity of phosphorus and calcium. Meat and dairy decrease Mn2+ absorption so adding beets to your daily diet in different forms is especially important to prevent deficiency, especially considering these two foods (meat and dairy) also contribute in other ways to the formation of metabolic diseases. Manganese in beets prevents metabolic disease through manganeses crucial role in both carbohydrate metabolism and regulation of enzymes of oxidation/antioxidation. (Li L, Yang X., 2018)

References

César Molina-Poveda,
4 – Nutrient requirements,
Editor(s): Sergio F. Nates,
Aquafeed Formulation,
Academic Press,
2016,
Pages 75-216,
ISBN 9780128008737,
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-800873-7.00004-X.

Jonas Wittwer, Martin Hersberger,
The two faces of the 15-lipoxygenase in atherosclerosis,
Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids,
Volume 77, Issue 2,
2007,
Pages 67-77,
ISSN 0952-3278,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plefa.2007.08.001.

Li L, Yang X. The Essential Element Manganese, Oxidative Stress, and Metabolic Diseases: Links and Interactions. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2018 Apr 5;2018:7580707. doi: 10.1155/2018/7580707. PMID: 29849912; PMCID: PMC5907490.

Clare, C. E., Brassington, A. H., Kwong, W. Y., & Sinclair, K. D. (2019). One-Carbon Metabolism: Linking Nutritional Biochemistry to Epigenetic Programming of Long-Term Development. Annual review of animal biosciences, 7, 263–287. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-animal-020518-115206