Talk:Nutritional yeast

Environmental concerns
The entire section on "environmental concerns" cites one prepublication ruling by the EPA. Although this citation confirms that acetaldehyde is a byproduct of nutritional yeast (as well as brewing yeast and baking yeast) production, according to page 30 of that 117-page report: "The total estimated national cancer incidence from these facilities was 0.0009 excess cancer cases per year or 1 case in every 1,100 years." And on page 33: "we determined that the risks from the Manufacturing of Nutritional Yeast source category are acceptable, and the current standards provide an ample margin of safety to protect public health and prevent an adverse environmental effect." Therefore the implication that production of nutritional yeast entails "environmental concerns" significant enough to justify an entire section of this article is refuted by very the reference cited. Since it seems to indicate an agenda of spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt about an important part of many vegetarian and vegan diets, rather than a constructive addition to the article or any genuine concern for the environment, the entire section is recommended for deletion. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.67.157.193 (talk) 14:28, 27 August 2023 (UTC)

Nutrition
The entire first paragraph of this section is unsourced, and seems a bit optimistic, given the typical density of yeast flakes. It seems unlikely that two level tablespoons (one fluid ounce) of any commercially acceptable nutritional yeast product would actually weigh in at the 15g that would be required to fulfill the data. If this was copied off the label of any product, or calculated as an average, then please supply the source for the estimate. (But it's possible, I'll admit, and I just think that there should be some source for this information.)

For comparison, I'm currently using NOW Nutritional Yeast Flakes reckoned at 9g/2 level tbs, and containing 3g carbohydrate of which 2g is fiber, and 5g of protein, <0.5g fat, 35 calories. If the opening paragraph were adjusted to 2 oz serving then it would just about fit.

Also, do people really eat 2 tbs of this stuff at a time? Is this a realistic serving size? (That's a LOT of popcorn...)

(As an aside, the last paragraph about glutamate is spot-on. I just described it to somebody as resembling soy sauce without any salt, high umami.) Drsruli (talk) 02:28, 6 August 2020 (UTC)

All right, I may have found a likely candidate for the data: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/719244/nutrients This resembles the paragraph, except that it's 3tbs.

The database has several entries for Nutritional Yeast flakes and this one is not typical. The others all use 1/4 cup serving size (4 tbs), and tend to report lower densities. For example:

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/589411/nutrients

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/935432/nutrients

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/575722/nutrients

Drsruli (talk) 03:00, 6 August 2020 (UTC)
 * I have fresh nutritional yeast, sold at retail. It weighs 11-12 grams for 2 level tablespoons. What to do about the data? Downtowngal (talk) 17:06, 15 August 2021 (UTC)

"Hippie Dust"
It is apparently common enough in use among Hippie Communities, and not considered derogatory. https://www.hippypop.com/ "sprinkle with magical hippy dust (aka nutritional yeast)". Drsruli (talk) 06:56, 9 August 2020 (UTC)
 * I have never, ever heard of nutritional yeast called "hippy dust" in conversation or in a recipe and I've been cooking "hippie" food a long time. I think "hippy dust" is just literary license, and rare, at that. I would remove this term from the article.Downtowngal (talk) 17:03, 15 August 2021 (UTC)

"deactivated" yeast
What does this mean? Are the yeasts dead? This is unclear Owoo6pha (talk) 16:01, 29 September 2021 (UTC)

"nooch" - should we include this?
I almost always hear this called "nooch." Should we include this in the article? It's even in the title of this NYT article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/08/dining/nutritional-yeast-nooch.html 50.52.110.224 (talk) 00:42, 16 September 2022 (UTC)