Pecans Nutrition

Nutrition including pecan nuts is a simple way to improve your well-being, but we really should crack our own nuts; learning the knack is a bit tedious but that way you will not eat too many, and the vitally important fatty acids won't have gone rancid.

These vitally important fats play an important role in the chiropractic regimen.

Research shows that, eaten regularly in small amounts, they will significantly lower the bad LDL cholesterol in your blood stream.

Yet, despite being high in calories, they are no more fattening than the Step 1 diet that is recommended for those with a heart condition.

Moreover, it's the same monounsaturated fat as in olive oil and avocados.

The beauty of the nut is its ability to lower LDL cholesterol whilst simultaneously raising the good HDL that promotes clean arteries. What's more, with none of the nasty statin side effects, it rivals the effectiveness of the drugs to lower the dangerous blood fats.

Three freshly cracked pecan nuts tossed onto your oats breakfast, or onto a salad will enhance any meal. Let's face it, plain cereal or greens can be quite dull.

Hence all the sugar that has to be added to breakfast cereals to make them palatable, and flavour enhancers to salad dressings.

This page was last updated by Dr Barrie Lewis on 27th January, 2019.

Three pecans a day keeps the doctor at bay

Journal of Nutrition (2001): A diet rich in pecans' with forty percent fat, was twice as effective as the Step I diet, containing twenty-eight % fatty acids, in reducing the total cholesterol by over eleven percent and the bad LDL by 17%. Noteworthy is that participants did not gain any weight.

Journal of Nutrition (2005): A review of the scientific literature found that about ten pecans a day would significantly lower the total cholesterol and LDL in patients with high cholesterol. Similar results were found for almonds, peanuts and walnuts, but not macadamia nuts.

Lowell University of Massachusetts: Researchers found that mice specially bred to develop Lou Gehrig's disease were far less likely to develop this fatal neurological condition if they were fed a diet enriched with pecan nuts.

Pecans nutrition

Pecans nutrition research proves that three nuts a day are not fattening compared to the Step I diet.

The American J of Clinical Nutrition (March 2009)

• Studies have shown a remarkably consistent association between eating nuts and reduced heart disease risk.
• Pecans probably reduce the risk of diabetes but the research was only done on women.
• There is limited evidence of an anti cancer effect.
• There were less gallstones in both men and women.
  
• And note this; there was less obesity and weight gain despite the high fat content.
  

Breakfast menu

A solid breakfast menu is vital otherwise you'll snack on junk food through the morning. A few basics at pecans nutrition may be useful.

Firstly don't purchase already shelled pecan nuts unless they are vacuum packed. You'll eat too many also, and their very special fat qualities are rapidly oxidised. Rather crack three every morning to go on your muesli or oats. It takes me less than a minute and you too can learn the knack. Easy...

• Healthy breakfast menu ...

Tip: Don't try cracking fresh nuts. Wait until they have dried out for a couple of months; then they are easier to shell, and tastier.

Foods that lower cholesterol

Foods that lower cholesterol are so easy to incorporate in your diet; pecans nutrition is just one of them. A handful of unsalted nuts and seeds every day researchers have found would reduce the mortality of heart stroke diabetes by almost 10%; that's massive.

Yes, nuts have a lot of fat, but listen to this; it's now been proven in research from Loma Lima University and published in the Journal of Nutrition, that pecan nuts eaten five times a week have these vital properties:

• They will lower your bad LDL cholesterol by about the same amount as Statin drugs with none of the side effects.
  
• Nuts raise the good HDL.
• They lower the bad triglycerides.
• Pecans decrease the rate of cardiovascular disease.
• They reduce the blood sugar levels in diabetics taken two hours after a meal which includes carbohydrate; they lower in effect the glycemic index.
  
• Pecans in a prescribed meal are twice as effective as the Step I diet in lowering cholesterol, despite being 30 percent higher in fat, with no associated weight gain.
  

The nutrition in pecans is for everyone; don't miss out on these delicious nuts. But do remember that once cracked their valuable oils and vitamins go rancid very quickly.

There is a paucity of information on the internet concerning the contents of three nuts, so I measured out this bowl of pecans; it contains 119 to be precise.

Purchase a bag every year, but only buy the large nuts. The small ones are more difficult to crack.  

Australia reaps 2,800 tons of whole nuts which contain 1,500 T of pecan, most of which is exported to China. They are smart people, obviously, and they consume 20 percent of the world's production.

When did you last crack a pecan nut? They are an important part of the North American heritage.

Using a bit of basic math, 3 whole nuts weigh 25g which contain 13.4g of nut flesh; that's six pecan halves.

Pecans nutrition

Consider the pecan nutrition in just three nuts.

Omega-3 fatty acids

Omega-3 fatty acids are "essential," meaning you cannot synthesize them in the body.

And since half of the fat in the brain is one of these called DHA, and all nerves are coated with oleic acid, rich in pecans, we realise the importance of omega-3 in human health.

Moreover a diet high in omega-6 and low in the W3 leads to generalised inflammation in the body; arthritis, atherosclerosis and autoimmune diseases like Lupus. 

Foods to reduce inflammation  should be our daily focus.

Why on a chiropractic help site? Omega-3 and arthritis prevention go hand in hand.

Omega-3 fats are polyunsaturated. The 2.9 g of PUFA in your three pecans a day will include about 0.2g of ALA; alpha linolenic acid.

General recommendations are about 10 grams of omega-3 per week. Your three pecans a day will provide about 10% of your daily requirements.

That's three freshly-cracked pecans.

Three other common sources of omega-3 are included in fish oil health benefits and flax seed nutrition information.

More important information for those suffering from inflammation can be found at anti inflammatory omega 3 and walnuts blood pressure.

This page was last updated by Dr Barrie Lewis on 23rd July, 2019.

Oleic acid

The essential mono-unsaturated fat in pecans nutrition, MUFAs, is the oleic acid that makes olive oil and avocados famous.

You may be wondering why pecans nutrition would feature on a chiropractic website. It's because the fatty myelin sheath of every nerve, without which conduction is impossible, is 70 percent oleic acid.

Whilst 93 kcal of energy may concern you, if you're obese, remember that research shows that folk eating small amounts of pecan nuts regularly did not gain more weight than their counterparts on the Step I diet. In fact, they lost pounds.

1.2g of vegetable protein isn't really significant, needing about 50 to 100g per day, depending on who you believe, but every bit from a non-animal source helps.

Note that the mono unsaturated fats in pecans are very high; they are particularly nutritious, and there is no cholesterol. It's the same reason why olive and avocado oils are so beneficial too.

• Avocado fat ...
• Olive garden nutrition ...
  

We won't add a detailed breakdown of the vitamins in pecan nuts, but they are particularly rich in Thiamine, the muscle vitamin; vitamin E, the fertility and prostate vitamin; folic acid, magnesium and zinc, and phytosterols, all anti-oxidant foodstuffs, read anti-cancer foods.

• Thiamine and generalised muscle weakness ...
• What are phytosterols ...?
• What is oleic acid?
  

The high folic acid, magnesium and zinc are probably the reason for the heart protective function, since they are vital for reducing homocysteine in the blood.

• Homocysteine cardiovascular ....

Gamma tocopherol vitamin E

Gamma tocopherol vitamin E is one of eight different forms found in pecans nutrition.

For those with prostate problems, the most serious malignancy in men, the vitamin E in pecans is particularly high in the protective gamma tocopherol fraction. Never swallow pure alpha tocopherol capsules. Read the label.

• Vitamin E ... discover why.

And it's all found in pecans nutrition. Read more the health benefits of pecans at Good Housekeeping.

Delic pecan nut dip

Freshly cracked pecan nuts will enrich and add flavour to any dip. Try these  dips made with cream cheese ....

Did you know that it takes me only five minutes to prepare the dough for our bread machine? The loaf you buy at the supermarket is tasteless in comparison, has too much salt and is loaded with chemicals.

I confess to be quite neurotic about all the chemical additives in our processed food; I'm convinced they are one of the main causes of cancer and autoimmune diseases like MS.

I'd rather take the time and both to crack my own nuts and bake our own bread than deal with the ravages of disease; in any case they taste much better freshly made in our own homes.

I've started the practice of dropping a handful of pecan nuts into our quick hummus; it improves the taste dramatically.

Worm farm delicacy

Yesterday we had a strange experience; whilst throwing the trash in the bin the good wife notice five large bags of shelled pecan nuts; they were totally mouldy and obviously inedible.

By humans that is; she brought them home and I tossed them into the worm farms. We considered giving them to the hens but decided they definitely didn't constitute best chicken feed; the possibility of aflatoxin was reasonably high, but I doubt it would affect the wonder of worm farms.

My real point is don't buy shelled nuts unless they've been vacuum packed; the useful oils are oxidised very quickly and they go mouldy. Aflatoxin is a potent cause of liver disease.

Useful links

1. Go from Pecans nutrition to Banting diet modified. 
   
2. Our low GI bread recipe.
   
3. Healthy Living Tips ...
4. Pecan nuts: A review of reported bioactivities and health effects