Core tip: many friends ask: the United States of America's large almonds and China's Xinjiang Batan wood is a thing? I heard that the United States large almonds have high nutritional value, lentils are also high? Is the U.S. lentil good or China's lentil good? What is the difference in nutritional value between lentils and real almonds? Recently, "American almonds are not actually almonds, but lentils" has caused a lot of commotion, many friends asked: American almonds and China's Xinjiang Batonwood is a thing? I heard that the United States almonds have high nutritional value, lentils are also high? Is the U.S. lentil good or Chinese lentil good? What is the difference in nutritional value between lentils and real almonds? I looked up a lot of relevant information, here one by one to answer you. 1, almonds are the fruit of what plants, and Batan wood is not a thing? The so-called "U.S. almond", called almond in English, is the seed kernel of lentils. Flat peach and apricot in the botanical classification is originally "relatives", the seed kernel looks a little like, just flat peach kernel larger, elongated heart-shaped, and apricot seed kernel grows smaller, heart-shaped. Why this product was translated as "almonds" when it was introduced into China, I don't know. The lentil has a 6,000-year history of cultivation, originating in Central Asia, Iran and other countries, and later spreading to Eurasia and North America. According to records, 1300 years ago in the Tang Dynasty in the western part of China has been cultivated. In Xinjiang, China, the fruit of the benevolent lentil is known as Batan apricot, a tree of the genus Peach in the subfamily Li of the family Rosaceae. The almond kernel is commonly known in Xinjiang, China, as Batam or Badam, which is derived from the Persian word badam. That is to say, China's Xinjiang Batan wood, and the United States almonds are completely a plant fruit, are squashed peach kernel. At present, the United States is the world's largest producer of lentils, cultivated area of 200,000 hectares, some European and Central Asian countries ranked higher production, according to the 2005 publication of the "China Dried Fruit" book of statistics, China's Xinjiang region's lentil cultivation area of 15,000 hectares, with more than 40 varieties of lentils. 2, lentil nutritional value is not high? American products and our products have much difference? Almonds are not only delicious, sweet flavor, and high nutritional value. The nutritional value of the "American almonds", there have been a lot of commercial publicity, but the nutritional quality of China's domestic lentil, I'm afraid that people do not know much. 1999 of China's Xinjiang harvested lentil kernel determination shows that the domestic lentil (Batan) crude protein content of 28%, fat content of 55%, and the fat, monounsaturated fatty acids. Among the fat, the proportion of monounsaturated fatty acids is as high as 71%, comparable to olive oil. Its linoleic acid content is 20%, and the proportion of unsaturated fatty acids is 92%. (Zhang Fengyun et al., 1997) That is to say, from the proportion of fatty acids, Batan wood is almost comparable to olive oil, and its protein and dietary fiber content is much higher than olive oil, to regulate blood lipids point of view, it is difficult to compare the advantages of other nuts. If we analyze the protein amino acid, the first limiting amino acid of Batan wood is lysine, and the sulfur amino acid is also low, but arginine and tryptophan are especially rich, and leucine, isoleucine and valine are also high. Its amino acid chemical score (AAS) is slightly higher than that of walnuts, but significantly lower than that of animal foods (Zhang Fengyun et al., 2000). This suggests that it is not desirable to replace lysine-rich foods such as meat, eggs and milk with lentils. However, since arginine is important for vasodilatation in the human body, and branched-chain amino acids such as leucine are also useful for muscle synthesis in the human body, the amino acid composition of Batan wood is not a disadvantage, but even an advantage for modern health care, when there is no shortage of animal foods. In terms of micronutrients, domestic lentils are particularly rich in vitamin B2 and vitamin E, higher than peanuts, walnuts and other nuts. Measurements of the batan wood produced in the Kashgar region show that it is very rich in potassium, calcium, and magnesium, as well as high in iron and zinc (Liu Jinrong et al., 2002). The Uyghur people believe that Batan wood has a strong effect, and it is said that 60% of the Uyghur national medicine formulas to use lentil, probably related to its amino acid composition characteristics and trace element content. Some domestic scholars have measured 28 different varieties of batan wood produced in Xinjiang, and found that its protein content is between 12.3%-29.8%, with an average of 22.6%, and its fat content is between 46.6%-62.0%, with an average of 54.68%. The fatty acids were all absolutely dominated by unsaturated fatty acids, and the proportion of unsaturated fatty acids in the total fatty acids of the 28 varieties ranged from 91.4% to 93.7%. Among them, the content of oleic acid ranged from 61.3% to 77.4%, with a small amount of palmitoleic acid. The proportion of linoleic acid ranged from 17.1%-26.4%, palmitic acid ranged from 4. 5- 9. 8%, and the proportion of saturated fatty acids ranged from 6.0%-7.6%, with an average of 7.1%, with almost no linolenic acid (Li Ying et al., 2004). The mineral content of wild Batan apricot is significantly higher than that of cultivated varieties. The nutrient contents of Batan almonds produced in Xinjiang, China, and U.S. almonds do not differ much, and the fatty acid composition is relatively similar. The fat content of the national product is slightly higher, the proportion of monounsaturated fatty acids is slightly higher, and the iron and zinc content is significantly higher than that of the U.S. product. In terms of flavor, national products are also slightly better than imported products. In addition, due to the dry climate of the Xinjiang region, can be in the origin of the product packaging and transportation, it is easier to maintain the quality; and imported products long-distance shipping, transported to coastal ports and then packaged for sale, easy to absorb moisture and oxidation phenomenon. Therefore, the purchase of lentil products, should pay special attention to its freshness. 3, almonds and lentils what is the difference in nutritional value? China's sales of almond products are basically national products, which are divided into two categories of bitter almonds and sweet almonds. Sweet almonds (Apricot kernel) is "benevolent almond" fruit. The so-called "apricot kernel" is an apricot that is used exclusively for eating the kernel, not the meat. According to the available measurement data, from the nutrient point of view, the nutritional value of bitter almonds, sweet almonds, hickory nuts and lentil nuts is similar. It has been determined that our sweet almonds have a protein content of 30.1% and a fat content of 49.3%; bitter almonds have a protein content of 27.0% and a fat content of 49.6%. Compared with lentil kernels, the protein content is slightly higher, the fat content is close, and the ratio of fatty acids is also similar to lentil kernels. Sweet almonds are dominated by monounsaturated fatty acids, with a content as high as 71.4%, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, mainly linoleic acid, are 24.7%, while saturated fatty acids are only 3.7% (Wang Shuying et al., 2008). From the mineral point of view, the zinc content of sweet almonds is 8.2%, which is similar to that of domestic lentil kernels, and the calcium content is 53 mg, which is lower than that of lentil kernels. Almonds are particularly rich in selenium, which is higher than other common nuts and oilseeds such as walnuts, peanuts and melon seeds. In terms of vitamin content, sweet almonds are higher in vitamin E than flat peach kernels, and are extremely rich in vitamin B2, reaching 1.82mg/100g, higher than flat peach kernels. In terms of amino acid composition, sweet almonds, bitter almonds and flat peach kernels are very similar, also rich in arginine and severely deficient in lysine, but bitter almonds are slightly higher in lysine than flat peach kernels. In comparison, hickory kernel has the highest lysine content (Li Keyou et al., 2008). Therefore, overall, the nutritional value of domestically produced sweet almonds is not inferior to that of imported lentil kernels, and they also have an advantage in terms of trace elements and vitamins. The oil traditionally used for skin care and beauty in China is not the oil of lentil kernel, but the oil of real almond. It is rich in vitamin E and is easily absorbed by the skin, providing a good moisturizing effect. More on how to tell the difference between sweet and bitter almonds, and how almonds and lentils differ in their health benefits, to be continued later. The food information I have found often suggests the fact that Chinese agricultural products are actually no less nutritious than foreign imports. Not only lentils, including walnuts, including walnuts, including blueberries, including kiwi, including soybean ...... only, Chinese farmers and agricultural products sales enterprises do not have a sense of nutritional quality, do not know how to publicize the advantages of their own products, at most, is to quote a few sentences from the ancient books, much less out of pocket to the universities and research institutes to do experiments, to dig deeper into the health benefits of the product, but also to find out how the product can be used to improve the health of the people. to dig deeper into the health benefits of the product to get more publicity and scientific evidence. Even some big food companies are quite unreliable in publicizing the nutritional and health value of their products, and they even mislead consumers intentionally or unintentionally. This shows that companies lack both the expertise to understand nutrition and the awareness to cooperate with food and nutrition experts. Can be a sigh of relief.