Facts You Need To Know About Healthy Nuts

Facts You Need To Know About Healthy Nuts

A daily dose of handful of nuts brings health benefits. Eating 25-50 grams nuts a day may reduce the risk or diabetes and heart disease, instead of weight gain.

Technically, peanuts are known as ‘legumes’. They have equal amount of nutrition and is health-promoting as of ‘real’ nuts. Technically speaking, coconuts are not ‘nuts’.

They don’t have equal amount of fats and nutrition as ‘real’ nuts. People having allergy of nut or nuts, should not take those nuts as it’s dangerous to health. As nuts have more fat then other nutritional food, it should be substituted by any other food that is health-promoting, instead of taking them in diet.

1. Peanuts are not ‘real’ nuts. What are ‘nuts’ exactly?
According to Macquarie Dictionary, “nut” is a type of dry fruit that consists of nutritive kernel or meat confined in leathery or woody shell. Botanically, ‘nut’ defines a hard, indehiscent, one-seeded fruit, as the chestnut or the acorn.

Peanuts belong to same botany family as beans and peas which make a ‘legume’ in technical sense.

But, nutrition in peanut is similar to ‘true’ nuts rather than beans or peas. Thus, most of the discussion now will be applicable to almonds and peanuts, cashews, chestnuts, Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, chestnuts, pecans, pistachios, pine nuts and walnuts.

As coconut too is known commonly as a ‘nut’, International Nut Council doesn’t consider it as nut.

2. What nutrients are provided by nuts?
Nuts possess a large amount of fat and protein too. Chestnuts are exceptional case, which contains mostly carbohydrate and little amount of fat or protein. Thus, we can say that, along with fish, meat, eggs, poultry and legumes, nuts have a position in food group of ‘protein’.

Though nuts have more amounts of fats, it is categorized as ‘polyunsaturated’ or ‘monounsaturated’.

Coconuts are included in ‘saturated’ fat.

Nuts are also available without salt “in the shell”.  They can be purchased in bulk also. Most of them have less quantity of polyunsaturated fats and so shell life is short.

Rancidity may occur which may lead to off-flavors. One method to overcome this problem is buying nuts in large quantity, shift them in smaller bags and put them in fridge or refrigerator and store them for using it in future.

Also, Peanut butter along with sugar and/or salt is available. So, read labels carefully that are put on the types of butter available in supermarket. This will help to recognize whether it is peanut butter or any other types of nut butter without additional sugar or salt.