Photography by Guy Bailey
In this month's issue
A handful of nuts is your gateway to good health. Nutrition editor Dr Rosemary Stanton reveals their amazing health benefits.
Play a lot of sport? You need plenty of protein and potassium, and pistachios are a great source of both. Getting older? Lutein helps maintain eye health in adults and pistachios are one of the few good food sources.
Lower in fat than most nuts, pistachios rate well for six of the eight b-vitamins, calcium, iron, zinc and magnesium, and provide dietary fibre. Best of all, pistachios are rich in lutein and gamma tocopherol, two anti-oxidants that can help stop fats from clogging arteries.
Brazil nuts are a must-eat snack for men. They're the richest source of selenium, a vital mineral for a healthy prostate gland.
As well as their protein and dietary fibre, brazil nuts have as much iron and zinc as lean lamb. Just two brazil nuts provide well over a whole day's selenium - no other food comes close to that.
Cashews provide copper in just the right quantity for healthy skin and hair, and their high content of zinc is beneficial for all kinds of tissue repair throughout the body.
The nutritional list is impressive - protein, iron, dietary fibre, potassium, magnesium, selenium and a collection of vitamins from the b-complex are all intertwined with healthy unsaturated fats. Vegetarians will also love the fact that 50g of cashews have as much iron as a couple of lamb cutlets.
Been on antibiotics? Eat hazelnuts. Antibiotics can lower biotin levels, and this b-vitamin, found in hazelnuts, is key for healthy skin. Hazelnuts also help keep blood sugar levels on an even keel.
Top of the nut class for dietary fibre, hazelnuts also supply your recommended daily intake of vitamin E - 50g is all you need to eat. To top it all off, hazelnuts provide protein, iron, zinc, potassium and vitamins b1, b3, b6 and folate.
If you want a healthy heart and a long life, go for walnuts. They're high in omega-3 fat, which will help you with both those goals.
A great all-rounder, walnuts are a source of seven of the eight b-vitamins, vitamin E, protein, dietary fibre and a collection of minerals including manganese, potassium, zinc, iron and calcium.
When it comes to fat, this is the odd nut out: it has almost none, and only about one-third the kilojoules
of most nuts. That's great news for people following a low-fat diet.
Chestnuts have fewer nutrients than most nuts, but no lack of dietary fibre or potassium, and they're second in the class behind hazelnuts in terms of folate. They also contain a respectable amount of vitamins b1 and b3.
Almonds are a great source of calcium - they have twice as much calcium as milk gram for gram.
Almonds are also a great source of protein, dietary fibre, iron, zinc, magnesium and vitamins b2, b3 and E. Just 35g of almonds - which is only 30 nuts - provides your recommended dietary intake of vitamin E.
The mineral manganese isn't talked about very much, but it's vital for the brain, bones and liver, and macadamias are a top source.
While they're not as high in nutrients as some of their nut relatives, macadamias are still a good source of dietary fibre, and provide some protein and a good sprinkling of b-complex vitamins. Their fat is also the same healthy kind you get from olive oil.
Peanuts are legumes, not nuts, but their nutritional value is similar. They have more protein and a little less fat - the good, unsaturated kind - than most nuts.
Rich in minerals, b-group and E vitamins, they're one of the most nutritious foods to be found.
Pine nuts are a real get-up-and-go food, with loads of iron to get the blood pumping and zinc to fire up muscle movement.
Up near the top of the nut class for protein, dietary fibre, magnesium, manganese and potassium, pine nuts rival red meat for iron and zinc. And, just 50g of pine nuts supplies a woman's recommended dietary intake for vitamin E.
Australian Good Taste
Taste.com.au - November 2011 , Page 176
Dr Rosemary Stanton