In this season when chestnuts are on the market, there are sugar-fried chestnuts on the street, chestnut soup in restaurants, roasted Chinese cabbage with chestnuts, chestnut cakes in supermarkets and so on. All people have an appetite at first sight, but what about the nutritional value of chestnuts? Dr. Fan Zhihong from the College of Food Science of China Agricultural University explained that chestnut belongs to nuts, but it is not as rich in oil as nuts such as walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds, and has a high starch content. The carbohydrate content of dried chestnut reaches 77%, which is equivalent to 75% of grain. There are 40% fresh chestnuts, 2.4 times that of potatoes. The protein content of fresh chestnut is 4% ~ 5%, which is not as high as that of peanuts and walnuts, but slightly higher than that of cooked rice.

But in some ways, chestnut is more nutritious than grain. Chestnuts are rich in vitamin B 1 and B2, the content of vitamin B2 is at least four times that of rice, and every gram of 100 also contains 24 mg of vitamin C, which is incomparable to cereals. I'm afraid it's hard to imagine that fresh chestnuts contain more vitamin C than tomatoes, which is ten times that of apples! Chestnuts also contain comprehensive minerals, such as potassium, magnesium, iron, zinc and manganese. Although the content is not as high as hazelnut and melon seeds, it is still much higher than that of ordinary fruits such as apples and pears, especially the potassium content is outstanding, which is four times higher than that of apples said to be rich in potassium.

Bright oil chestnuts also have high medicinal value. Chestnut has the functions of strengthening spleen and stomach, benefiting qi, tonifying kidney and strengthening heart, and is mainly used to treat nausea, vomiting blood and hematochezia. Xian Yi, young and old. Chestnut is rich in soft dietary fiber and its glycemic index is lower than that of rice. As long as sugar is not added in the processing and cooking, diabetics can also taste it in moderation.

Although chestnuts have high nutritional and health value, they also need to be eaten properly. Dr. Fan said: Chestnuts can't be eaten in large quantities at one time. Too much will easily swell up. You only need to take 6 ~ 7 capsules a day, and you can achieve a good nourishing effect if you stick to it. Dr. Fan also suggested that people should treat chestnuts as snacks between meals, or eat them at dinner instead of eating them in large quantities after meals. This is because chestnuts contain more starch, and it is easy to consume too many calories after meals, which is not conducive to maintaining weight. Dr. Fan reminded consumers not to blindly pursue white or golden pulp when purchasing chestnuts. Golden flesh may be chemically treated chestnuts. On the contrary, if the pulp is brown in the middle after frying or cooking, it is caused by the "browning reaction" of the enzymes contained in chestnuts. As long as the taste has not changed, it is harmless to human body.