There are actually “counterfeit goods” in the nut gift package?

Audit expert: Wang Guoyi

Postdoctoral fellow in Nutrition and Food Safety, China Agricultural University

In recent years, with the popularization of the concept of balanced nutrition and economic development, nuts have become popular again due to their wide variety, taste and nutrition. At the same time, many well-known snack brands have launched various nut gift boxes, which also provide a great tool for solving the problem of holiday gift giving.

In fact, under the discerning taste buds of the Chinese, nuts have "captured" people's hearts with their deliciousness and nutrition since ancient times, whether they are hidden in the many rare treasures of sacrifices and tributes, or included in the introductions of ancient books such as "Compendium of Materia Medica", or exist in the daily life of the people who "give hazelnuts to women"...

Perhaps you who are reading this article now have a nut platter as decoration on your living room table. Do you know how to arrange nuts just right?

Traditional Chinese cooking with nuts

Source | Pexels

1

What are nuts?

When it comes to nuts, walnuts and chestnuts are the most well-known. A random search for a snack gift pack shows that it contains macadamia nuts, pecans, crab beans, garlic peas, etc. But peas and beans do not seem to be considered nuts. So what are nuts?

A variety of nuts

Source | Pexels

We will look at it in two ways: first, let's look up the definition of "nuts" in the "Chinese Food Composition Table" - nuts are also called shell fruits, and most of the edible parts are the kernel, cotyledons or endosperm inside the hard core, which are rich in starch and oil. Since some plant dry seeds and nuts are often "bundled for marketing" in business, nuts can be divided into two subcategories: tree nuts and seeds; second, let's look at the professional definition of nuts in botany: nuts, a type of indestructible dried fruit of angiosperms, refers to the type of fruit whose exocarp dries and hardens but does not crack after it matures.

Therefore, the nuts generally recognized by the public also include some other types of fruits or seeds. In summary, from a commercial perspective, nuts can be defined as: dried fruits (or seeds) with hard woody or leathery skin and edible kernels. Peas and beans are naturally not considered nuts.

2

How should we eat nuts?

Browsing various nutrition channel media such as the National Health Commission and the Chinese Nutrition Society, "eating" nuts has become a nutritional dietary recommendation. So, how should nuts be "eated" to be healthy?

Quantitative

As shown in the figure below, according to the Chinese Nutrition Society, we only need to "just" 25-35 grams of soybeans and nuts every day, which is about 10 grams per day for nuts. A 10-gram serving of nuts is equivalent to about 3 walnuts, 8 almonds, 10 Brazil nuts, 7 cashews, 4 macadamia nuts, 5 chestnuts, 40 pine nuts, 30 pistachios or 15 unshelled peanuts . Strictly speaking, according to the different ingredients and contents of different nuts, we need to formulate a suitable consumption standard for ourselves.

Balanced Diet Pagoda for Chinese Residents in 2022

Source | Chinese Nutrition Society official website

Can't

Depending on the fat and carbohydrate content, nuts can be divided into starchy nuts and oily nuts . The starchy nuts mainly include chestnuts, ginkgo nuts, cashews, etc., and the oily nuts mainly include walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts, etc.

Therefore, for people who need to control carbohydrate intake, such as diabetics, they should eat less starchy nuts to control blood sugar ; and for people who need to control fat intake, such as patients with hyperlipidemia, they should eat less oily nuts to control blood lipids .

In addition, people with allergies should avoid eating corresponding nuts to avoid allergic reactions; patients with throat diseases should try to eat less or no roasted or fried nuts to avoid irritating the throat and causing discomfort. In summary, there are many situations that cannot be avoided, including special patients, allergens, etc.

Moreover, different nuts have different ways of eating and corresponding taboos, which need to be discovered and sorted out by nut lovers. In short, when eating nuts, everyone needs to choose the appropriate type and intake of nuts according to their own situation and nutritional needs, and pay attention to controlling the frequency and method of intake to avoid adverse effects on health.

New Chiafa

The resurgence of nuts is also inseparable from the innovation of eating methods. For nut snacks alone, there are different flavors such as durian cashew, lychee, and bubble flavors. We can also catch up with the "nuts +" trend and eat nuts with other delicacies to create new flavors, such as the recently popular yogurt bowl, nut cereal, lotus root powder, etc.

Although there are many new and diverse ways to eat nuts, eating too many of them salt-baked, fried, etc. is not good for your health. It is recommended to enjoy them but not to be greedy, and try to eat nuts in their original flavor or cooked .

Source | Pexels

3

"Just" for a good body

Nutritional Information

Nuts are famous for their rich nutrition. We can divide the main nutrients into two categories: bioactive ingredients and nutrients. Nutrients refer to the seven essential substances for humans to maintain normal life activities, which are divided into two categories: macronutrients and trace nutrients. Macronutrients include fat, protein and carbohydrates, while trace nutrients include minerals and vitamins. Minerals generally refer to the various beneficial elements we often talk about, such as magnesium, calcium, potassium, etc. in nuts; vitamins include fat-soluble vitamins and water-soluble vitamins, and nuts are rich in and well-known to the public, such as E vitamins and B vitamins .

Bioactive substances refer to substances that are not essential but have important benefits for the body to maintain health. They are relatively unfamiliar to everyone. The plant active ingredients in nuts mainly include phenols and acids , such as proanthocyanidins and phenolic acids .

We call the fat-soluble substances in nutrients fat-soluble active ingredients, which include the well-known unsaturated fatty acids, glycerides, carotenoids, chlorophyll, sterols, squalene, etc., which regulate the normal life activities of the body.

benefit

A large number of research findings have shown that the various nutrients in nuts have beneficial effects on human metabolism and blood vessels , and have health benefits such as preventing cardiovascular disease, preventing diabetes, lowering blood lipids and controlling blood sugar, lowering blood pressure, improving endothelial function, anti-inflammatory and cancer prevention, weight loss, and preventing Alzheimer's disease.

Source | Pexels

In short, eating nuts in moderation is good for physical and mental health, and is a "powerful helper" for a balanced diet. During the Spring Festival, do you have your favorite nuts on your table? Remember that nuts are good, but you should be moderate in your consumption!