The holiday season is notorious for adding a few unwanted pounds to most Americans festive frames. Holiday parties and family get-togethers tempt us with seasonal and calorie-packed treats and sweets that can quickly add up if not limited or resisted. But not all holiday snacks are unhealthy.
Nuts have been an important staple of human and animal diets for thousands of years. By definition, the nut is a fruit consisting of a hard or tough shell around an edible kernel. The botanical definition has the additional requirement that the hard, stony or woody shell does not open to release the seed. However, the culinary term more loosely includes a wider variety of dried seeds.
True nuts, in the botanical sense, include hazelnuts, chestnuts, and acorns. “Culinary nuts” include almonds, pecans, pistachios, walnuts, cashews, macadamia, and Brazil nuts.
Peanuts are actually a legume, though commonly included in the culinary nut category. Legume fruit generally have pods that open along a seam on both sides as they mature. Other common legumes include peas, beans, vanilla, soybeans, and lentils.
Nuts are often heralded as one of nature’s perfect foods. They contain many of the essential nutritional elements necessary to sustain life, including protein, fats, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Eating nuts in their raw form assures that the nutrients remain intact; as opposed to roasting which can destroy some of the good fats and fat-soluble amino acids and minerals. A good example is walnuts. Unroasted walnuts have twice the amount of antioxidants as roasted walnuts.
Boiling nuts, as is commonly done with peanuts, may destroy some of the nutritional components (particularly fats and fat-soluble nutrients), but actually increases the amount of some antioxidants in the nuts by drawing them from the shell. However, since the nuts are boiled in salt water, the amount of sodium in the nuts is greatly increased. This is also true when choosing store bought salted nuts. Though the salt certainly adds to the taste, many individuals may have health conditions that are negatively affected by the extra salt, for example high blood pressure, heart failure, and kidney dysfunction.
In general, most nuts have good fats containing omega-3 fatty acids. These fats are associated with lower risks of coronary artery disease. Nuts are also high in fiber and as such can help to curb appetite if eaten as a mid-meal snack. They have a low glycemic index, meaning their carbohydrates are slowly metabolized and they do not cause large fluctuations in blood sugar.
Some of the beneficial vitamins and minerals contained in nuts include: selenium in Brazil nuts and beta-sitosterol in pecans, both of which may help in prostatic enlargement and prostate cancer; folic acid in peanuts, important for DNA maintenance and blood cell production; and vitamin E, which is an antioxidant in peanuts and almonds. Other essential nutrients in many nuts include B vitamins, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and copper.
The amount of calories in nuts varies due to their fat, protein, and carbohydrate content. For pecans, walnuts, and almonds, 18-20 nut halves have around 200 calories. The same amount of calories are present in about six Brazil nuts, 20-25 full cashews, 50 pistachios, 30 peanuts, and 10-12 macadamia nuts. But, like every food, too much of even a good thing can be unhealthy.
The content in this column is for informational purposes only. Consult your physician for appropriate individual treatment. Dr. Reynolds practices Family Medicine in Chesterfield.
