Pine Nut Nutrition And Benefits

Pine Nut Nutrition And Benefits

Hello Friends, Today i am going to tell you Pine Nut Nutrition And Benefits.This is the best Pine Nut Nutrition And Benefits. So you can check Pine Nut Nutrition And Benefits Below Here. Our fresh pine nuts (also known as pignolias), have a delicate sweet and nutty flavor. Blend pine nuts into a creamy pesto sauce, or add them to cookies and baked goods for a nutty crunch. Roasting the pine nuts will bring out their unique flavor to toss in salads, pastas, and other dishes.

Pine Nut Nutrition Facts
Pine nuts are the edible nuts that come from pine trees (family Pinaceae, genus Pinus). The process of extracting the final version of what you buy at the store is a bit complicated, beginning with the maturation of the pine cone from which it’s taken. Depending on the species, that process can take nearly two years to complete. Once the cone has matured, it is harvested by placing it in a burlap bag and being exposed to a heat source (generally the sun) in order to dry out the cone. Drying is usually over after about 20 days, and then the cones are broken apart and the nuts separated out to be prepared for consumption.

As a tree nut, pine nuts aren’t a legume, such as the peanut, but rather a hardened fruit, like the almond. This means that after removing the nuts from pine cones, their outer shell also must be removed before they’re ready to eat.

Pine nut nutrition is no joke — these small nuts are packed with a ton of vitamins and minerals essential to the human body. And don’t be too concerned about the fat content – similarly to almonds, the healthy fat found in pine nuts actually helps improve satiety (the feeling of being full), and pine nuts are associated with weight loss and healthy weight management.

One serving of pine nuts (about 28.4 grams) contains:
191 calories
19 grams of fat
169 milligrams potassium (4 percent DV)
3.7 grams of carbohydrate
1 gram of fiber (1 percent DV)
3.9 grams protein (7 percent DV)
1.6 milligrams iron (8 percent DV)
71 milligrams magnesium (18 percent DV)
163 milligrams phosphorus (16 percent DV)
1.8 milligrams zinc (12 percent DV)
.1 milligrams thiamin (7 percent DV)
.06 milligrams riboflavin/Vitamin B12 (3.5 percent DV)
1.2 milligrams niacin (6.2 percent DV)
2.7 milligrams Vitamin E (8.8 percent DV)
15.3 micrograms Vitamin K (19 percent DV)

Health benefits of pine nuts
Pine nuts are one of the calorie-rich edible nuts. 100 g of dry-kernels provide 673 calories. Additionally, they comprise of numerous health promoting phyto-chemicals, vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals.

Their high caloric content chiefly comes from fats. Indeed, the nuts are especially rich in mono-unsaturated fatty acids like oleic acid (18:1 undifferentiated fat) that helps to lower LDL or "bad cholesterol" and increases HDL or "good-cholesterol" in the blood. Research studies suggest that Mediterranean diet which contain good amounts of monounsaturated fatty acids, vitamins and antioxidants, helps to prevent coronary artery disease and strokes by favoring healthy blood lipid profile.

Pine or cedar nuts contain essential fatty acid (omega-6 fat), pinolenic acid. Recent research has shown its potential use in weight loss by curbing appetite. Pinolenic acid triggers the release of hunger-suppressant enzymes cholecystokinin and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) in the gut. In addition, pinolenic acid has thought to have LDL-lowering properties by enhancing hepatic LDL uptake.

Likewise in almonds, pines too are an excellent source of vitamin E; contain about 9.33 mg per 100 g (about 62% of RDA). Vitamin E is a powerful lipid soluble antioxidant, required for maintaining the integrity of cell membrane of mucus membranes and skin by protecting it from harmful oxygen-free radicals.

Furthermore, pines are one of gluten free tree nuts, and therefore, are a popular ingredient in the preparation of gluten-free food formulas. Such formula preparations can be a healthy alternative in people with wheat food allergy, and celiac disease.

Pine nuts are an excellent source of B-complex group of vitamins such as thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine) and folates. These vitamins work as co-factors for enzymes in cellular substrate metabolism inside the human body.

Furthermore, pine nuts contain healthy amounts of essential minerals like manganese, potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc and selenium. At 8.802 mg per 100 g (about 383% of daily recommended intake), pines are one of the richest sources of manganese. Manganese is an all-important co-factor for antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase. It is therefore, consumption of pines helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful oxygen-free radicals.

Pine nut oil has a delicate flavor with sweet aroma, and is being employed in many traditional medicinal applications. The main chemical components in pine oil are borneol, bornyl acetate, a and ß-phellandrene, a-pinene and ß-pinene. Its emollient property helps to keep skin well protected from dryness. It has also been employed in cooking, and as “carrier or base oil” in traditional medicines in aromatherapy, in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry.