Hi everybody this is Monica Reinagle and you're listening to the nutrition

diva quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous this week's topic

comes from a listener hi my, my name is Elizabeth, and I'm wondering if you would do a show on nutritional yeast.

I recently found out about this food product and notice that you could put it on popcorn and it tastes pretty good

tastes like cheese but I was just wondering how much of it is safe to eat and is it really

that healthy for us. Thanks, bye. You're right nutritional yeast is good on popcorn. That cheesy flavor makes

nutritional yeast flakes particularly popular with vegetarians because it makes a

decent dairy-free substitute for grated parmesan cheese and true to its name it is reasonably nutritious

there's another product similar to nutritional yeast called brewer's yeast

it's spent yeast that's left over from the brewing process it's also nutritious but

with some important differences.

For one thing, it doesn't taste all that good on popcorn.

Nutritional yeast and brewer's yeast are both related to the kind of yeast that you use to make bread.

Baker's yeast is a living organism.

When you rehydrate it and give it some sugar to eat,

it starts blowing bubbles for you.

And this is what makes your bread rise,

or in the case of active brewer's yeast,

what makes your brew booingoozy? Nutritional yeast and the kind of active Brewers yeast, what makes your brew boozey?

Nutritional yeast and the kind of Brewers yeast you find in health food stores aren't living organisms.

They're deactivated, so they won't ferment into alcohol and they won't make anything rise.

So why do we bother?

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