Almonds Nutrition
Almonds' nutrition has been well-documented, and they are available year round for a tasty and healthy snack. The freshest nuts are generally only sold in the summer, their harvest season, but packaged nuts are available anytime you want them. The almond nut is actually the seed of the almond fruit tree.
Almonds are high in monounsaturated fats, which are the same kind of fats that are found in olive oil. These are “good” fats that promote a healthy heart, by reducing the risk of heart disease. If you eat nuts instead of other types of carbohydrate-rich foods, you can lower your risk of heart disease by thirty percent. Whole almonds with the skin intact promote the most benefits to a healthy heart.
Vitamin E in almond meat, added to the flavonoids in the almond's skin, double the positive effects of antioxidants than you get when you eat flavonoids and vitamin E in separate foods, according to a study done for the Journal of Nutrition.
A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that almonds' nutrition can help to reduce your levels of cholesterol as much as statin drugs did in their first generation of development.
Another study by that same team revealed that almonds can also reduce C-reactive protein, which is a marker of inflammation that damages arteries. Almonds are among the highest rated nuts as far as vitamin E, too. From a handful of these nuts, you can gain significant amounts of phosphorus, vitamin B2, copper, magnesium, manganese, and vitamin E.
In addition, almonds can help you lose weight! A recent study revealed that people on a low calorie diet including almonds were able to lose more weight than those who didn't consume almonds.
Almonds' nutrition comes from copper and manganese, which are two trace minerals important to the body in their ability to disarm free radicals in our body, that might otherwise lead to disease. They also help your energy level, by not allowing the free radicals to affect your riboflavin levels in a harmful way.
Almonds also promote a lowered risk of gallstones. Women in a twenty year study had fewer problems with gallstones if they consumed one ounce of nuts a day. Almonds also are blessed with protein. One quarter cup of almonds has more protein than an egg, and has less going against it, as well.
Almonds' nutrition information reveals that one cup of almonds has nearly 99 mg of magnesium, and 257 mg of potassium. These help to improve blood flow, and the flow of nutrients and oxygen throughout the human body. Potassium is an important electrolyte that helps transmission through nerves, and it's also helpful in promoting cardiovascular health, by lowering the chance of atherosclerosis and high blood pressure.
So, go nuts! Almonds are a healthy addition to a low-calorie diet, with many helpful benefits.