Nuts such as walnuts, melon seeds and peanuts contain more protein, fat, vitamin E and calcium, which are beneficial to human body and can supplement the nutrition needed by the brain.
Nuts, also known as shell fruits, are mostly cotyledons or endosperm of plant seeds, which have high nutritional value. Time magazine in the United States once rated it as one of the 10 nutritious foods of modern people. Nuts are generally divided into two categories: first, tree nuts, including almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts, pine nuts, chestnuts, ginkgo (ginkgo), pistachios, macadamia nuts, etc. The second is seeds, including peanuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and watermelon seeds.
According to the food composition table of China, nuts contain protein 36.0%, fat 58.8%, carbohydrate 72.6%, vitamins (vitamins B, E, etc.), trace elements (phosphorus, calcium, zinc, iron), dietary fiber, etc. In addition, it also contains monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, including linolenic acid, linoleic acid and other essential fatty acids. The benefits of nuts to human health are mainly manifested in the following aspects:
1. Scavenging free radicals is very active, and it will react with cell tissues and DNA in human body, resulting in toxicity and damage. Studies have shown that some nut foods, such as sunflower seeds, have strong ability to scavenge free radicals, and their effects can be compared with those of strawberries and spinach.
2. Reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes in women. Researchers from the Nutrition Department of Harvard University School of Public Health in the United States have conducted a follow-up survey on 84,000 women aged 34-59 in/kloc-0 16 years. The results show that eating more nuts will significantly reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. They believe that nuts are rich in unsaturated fats and other nutrients, which help to improve the balance between blood sugar and insulin.
3. Reducing the rate of sudden cardiac death Because some components in nuts have anti-arrhythmia effects, eating nuts is obviously related to reducing sudden cardiac death after controlling the known heart risk factors and making a reasonable diet. Compared with people who seldom or never eat nuts, people who eat nuts twice or more a week have lower risk of sudden cardiac death and death from coronary heart disease.
4. Regulating Blood Lipids Professor Xiao Ying from peking university health science center et al. In 2002, 85 patients with hyperlipidemia were given 75g of American almond every day for 4 weeks, and their blood lipids were observed. The results showed that the serum total cholesterol and apolipoprotein B decreased significantly and apolipoprotein A 1 increased significantly after taking almond. It shows that American almond rich in monounsaturated fatty acids has a good regulating effect on blood lipid and apolipoprotein levels in patients with hyperlipidemia.
5. Improving eyesight Research found that chewing intensity plays a certain role in improving eyesight, and eating more nuts can improve eyesight.
The ciliary muscle of the eye can adjust the lens of the eyeball, and the adjustment function of the ciliary muscle depends on the muscle strength of the face, and the enhancement of the muscle strength of the face benefits from the chewing intensity. Modern people's food is softening day by day, and little or no chewing is needed when eating, which weakens facial muscle strength, reduces the adjustment function of ciliary muscle to eyeball lens, and easily reduces vision. Therefore, to improve your eyesight, you should eat more hard food and stick to chewing food fully for a long time.
6. Brain-nourishing brain cells are composed of 60% unsaturated fatty acids and 35% protein. Therefore, for the development of the brain, the first nutrient needed is unsaturated fatty acids. Nut food contains a lot of unsaturated fatty acids, high-quality protein of 15%~20% and more than a dozen important amino acids, which are the main components of brain cells. Nuts are also rich in vitamins B 1, B2, B6, vitamin E, calcium, phosphorus, iron and zinc, which are beneficial to brain nerve cells. Therefore, eating nuts is very beneficial to improve brain nutrition, especially suitable for pregnant women and children.