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[lovebirds]

Just been brushing up on information about liver disease and reading Avian Medicine book, and once again saw the mentioning of Brazil nuts along with peanuts described as "notorious sources of aflatoxins" in the aforementioned book. So if you avoid peanuts for this reason it makes sense to avoid Brazil nuts too.

[geffsgrey]

Will sort them out of the Tropimix then as a precaution.

[Lesley]

On Wiki, seems that human grade is ok.

Also, seems that quite a lot of things are prone to alfatoxins...
eg tumeric

Hmmmm, I guess I just dont know enough, but surely if there is alfatoxin on the brazilnut and the nut is in a mix, removing the nut doesn't necessarily mean the toxin is gone from the mix?

I dunno, I try not to give Flint stuff thats high risk or bad for him, but also feel a little nervous of getting too hung up on things that are really a very small risk.
I know aspergillus is a risk in animal grade monkey nuts - so would definitely avoid. But I'm struggling to know at what point to draw the line? In the end there is no 100% safe feeding method. Help!

[lovebirds]

I know what you mean, Lesley. All peanuts and all brazil nuts contain aflatoxins and I avoid both completely. I am fine with peanuts in Power Treats because I know that they test their nuts and grains for any presence of aflatoxins, and that is the reason why I don't feed any seed mix, as, as you've read in Wiki, lots of grains, like corn and wheat contain them too, and again, at least i know those in pellets are tested and re-tested.
For some reason it is peanuts and brazil nuts which are especially pointed out in Avian Medicine, but it is also mentioned that seed mixes can be contaminated.

yeah, I think if they are already in the mix they will contaminate the rest of the stuff.

[lizduncan]

I love brazil nuts but Nico just won't entertain the at all. If she gets offered a but she hurls it and yells walnut 

[ChrisnJulie]

Dont know if you've noticed , but at Christmas time the mixed nuts in the shell do not have brazil nuts in them anymore for that reason , you can only buy human grade 'shell on' brazils separately now . Thats been for a couple of years . I love yummy milky brazils . Luckily Teddy isnt fussy on them .

The shell contains toxins as a result of fungus and can cause liver damage , if the shell breaks it affects the nut and the fungus makes that toxic too and thats to humans , so imagine what it does to birds ?

[lovebirds]

Liz, that is hilarious 

Apparently humans are exceptionally resistant to aflatoxins and it still can cause problems, so the doses safe for humans must still be quite high for the parrots. And excluding peanuts and brazils is not that much of a big deal, is it. The best nuts are still walnuts, almonds, pecans and cashews when it comes to nutrition 

[pip]

I seem to recall reading about another possible drawback with Brazil nuts (Or was it a benefit? Can't remember!), some chemical, possibly beginning with the letter S??

[pip]

Yes, selenium! Powerful antioxidant apparently.

[lovebirds]

selenium that is and it is great for the health, but it's found  in other foods, including pellets, grains, other seeds and nuts. 

[pip]

That's right, it's just the selenium content of Brazil nuts is particularly high. I remember reading that although it is good for parrots, some had shown almost toxic levels in their bloodstream and that maybe they should only be given to South American parrots as they are better able to cope with it.