Nuts, Glorious Nuts

Nuts and seeds feature in our Best Ever Poop Plan as a great source of fibre. They typically contain a mix of both insoluble and soluble fibre with some decent low-FODMAP serving sizes. But with these nutrient powerhouses it’s a case of come for the fibre, and stick around for a whole load of extra beneficial nutrients you get for free. In particular, they are fabulous sources of antioxidants that can help with healthy ageing.

In this blog, we’re focusing in on nuts. We’ll take you through the low FODMAP serving sizes of tasty nuts, outline some of the health benefits and link through to the recipes for some of our favourite ways to enjoy them.

Fibre Rich

The fibre in nuts tends to be non-fermentable, which means it is unlikely to cause bloating. Nuts are a great source of insoluble fibre (roughage) that adds bulk and helps speed up the transit of food in the digestive tract. This can obviously help prevent constipation, but is not so great for sufferers of  diarrhoea.

Gram for gram, almonds have the highest fibre content, mostly from the skins, but they don’t have a large low FODMAP serving size. Chestnuts, macadamia nuts and hazlenuts are perhaps better options.

Enjoy fibre-filled macadamias in our Roasted Sweet Potato and Macadamia Salad or our Tropical Mango Smoothie.

Protein

Nuts are a great source of plant-based protein. The best source is peanuts*.

In addition to peanuts and peanut butter, almonds, and pistachios are also particularly good sources of protein. Chestnuts though are very low in protein. Nuts don’t provide all the essential amino acids we need in our diets, but can be combined with grains to form a complete protein.

All nuts (apart from chestnuts) are high in the essential amino acid, arginine, which has positive effects on the immune response and inflammation, and cardiovascular function, including its key role in reducing the risk of heart disease.

Looking to up your protein? - check out the following recipes with peanuts - Peanut Buttercups and our Banana Mocha Smoothie with added peanut butter to make a Chunky Monkey.

*Peanuts are actually legumes not nuts.

So now is probably a good time for a quick bit of botany and a definition of nuts. A nut is actually a type of fruit – typically dry with a high oil content. The whole fruit consists of a hard or tough nutshell protecting a kernel, the edible bit we eat. In botany, the term "nut" implies that the shell does not open to release the seed. That means that almonds, pistachios and Brazil nuts are not also not nuts in a botanical sense. To keep things simple, we are going to use ‘nuts’ in the culinary sense and include everything except coconuts here.

Vitamins

Nuts contain Vitamin C, plus fat-soluble vitamins (Vitamin A, B1, B2, B3, B6) and antioxidants such as Vitamin E that promote better health, and play an important role against the aging process, improving brain function, and maintaining healthy skin.

There are a few standouts – Chestnuts are the richest in Vitamin C by a mile, whilst pistachios have the most in Vitamin A, and peanuts and almonds are rich in the B vitamins. The concentration of folic acid is highest in pistachios and chestnuts.

We’re going to put our minds to creating a great chestnut recipe, in the meantime, check out this Nutty Smoothie, with peanut butter and walnuts for B vitamins…or our Gut-Friendly Muesli, which contains a wide collection of nuts and seeds providing a variety of vitamins in every spoonful.

Minerals

Nuts are rich sources of copper and magnesium, important for heart health. Pine nuts and almonds are the richest in magnesium. Whilst, pine nuts, pistachios are the best nuts for copper. Nuts are also fairly good sources of potassium - the best being pistachios and almonds. Most nuts have a good amount of iron and zinc, but all are fairly low in calcium.

For a good dose of heart-friendly minerals, try adding pine nuts to salads and pasta sauces like this Crispy Prosciutto Pasta.

Healthy Fats

Despite being high in fat, nuts are considered heart healthy foods. This is largely because they are high in 'good fats' – monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats that help to lower levels of bad cholesterol.

Most nuts have both monosaturated fats and polyunstaurated fats, but walnuts are particularly high in poylunsaturated fats, including the essential fatty acid, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), also known as the vegetable omega-3 fatty acid.

Enjoy walnuts in our new smoothie.

Plant Phenols

There is growing evidence to suggest that the wide-variety of phenolic compounds found in nuts have cardioprotective, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and neuroprotective effects. Some these effects are derived via metabolites produced by the microbiome as the bacteria feed on the plant phenols. Whilst all nuts have high levels of phenolic acids and flavonoids, the type varies across different nuts. Walnuts for example are rich in vanillic acid, catechin, pyrocatechin, protocatechuic acid, epicatechin, syringic acid, gallic acid, juglone and cinnamic acid, ellagic acid, rutin - quite a list.

Zooming in on the neuroprotective effects, it is interesting to note that traditional Persian medicine has long employed almonds, hazlenuts and walnuts to improve brain health and memory. Animal studies have indicated that these nuts may be helpful in preventing Alzheimers disease and even indicated the specific compounds that may be important.

However. it is likley that rather than a single chemical being responsible for the brain health enhancing effects, there is a synergistic effect from the antioxidant effects of the vitamins and phenols, plus the fibre, minerals and omega 3 fatty acids acting to reduce high cholesterol and blood pressure that can contribute to dementia.

Great Flavour

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. Healthy food isn’t healthy unless it is eaten. And that means it has to taste good.

Fortunately, nuts contain a wealth of aroma and flavour compounds to make them delicious.

Roasting can improve flavour, color, taste and texture, as well as preserving the quality and storability of nuts. Opt for dry roasted nuts rather than those with added oil. Roasting increases the bioavailabilty of some nutrients, and reduces others, so consuming a mix of raw and roasted nuts across the week is probably best.

Our absolute favourite nut-based recipe is our  Chocolate Dipped Protein Balls. - Enjoy!

Written by: Dr Mary Webberley, Chief Scientific Officer at Noisy Guts. Mary has a background in biology, with two degrees from the University of Cambridge and post-doctoral research experience. She spent several years undertaking research into the diagnosis of IBS and IBD. She was the winner of the 2018 CSIRO Breakout Female Scientist Award.