The Health Benefits of Pecan Nuts
Pecan Nuts are a fantastically tasty way to improve your health! Normally things that taste this good aren’t very good for you, but pecans are full of excellent nutrients. Behind their rich, buttery flavour lies a wealth of beneficial things your body needs to maintain health and effective biological functions.
Pecan trees grow up to 40 metres tall, and 120,000 tons of nuts are harvested commercially every year. The pecan tree is actualy a species of hickory, and is native to Mexico and the United States. Pecans are often found as the main ingredient in pecan pie, a dish traditionally enjoyed in the southermost states of the US.
So what exactly are the health benefits of pecan nuts? Can they improve your health as well as delighting your taste buds, and if so, how? Let’s have a look…
Fibre makes up roughly one-tenth of each pecan nut by weight. This means eating pecans regularly will help clean out your gastrointestinal system, improve bowel regularity, and increase the all-round health of your colon and digestive system.
When compared with walnuts, they emerge the victors in the fibre stakes – 100g of pecans will give you 38% of your recommended daily allowance of dietary fibre, compared to just 24% for walnuts.
It sounds counter-intuitive, doesn’t it? Everyone knows that nuts are fairly high in calories, so how can they help you shed the pounds? It turns out that nuts like pecans really increase feelings of satiety, meaning we’re far more likely to feel full up after eating them.
A study in 2007 found that a group eating two or more portions of nuts a week had a 31% lower risk of gaining weight compared to people who never or rarely ate them.
The huge whack of monounsaturated fatty acids contained within the average pecan nut provides a wonderful boost for our tickers! Consuming these beneficial fats in our diet means our cholesterol levels improve significantly, leading to a reduction in the likelihood of heart disease. The beta carotene and Vitamin E work together to reduce the damaging effects on the body’s cells of chronic inflammation.
Vitamin E, which pecans contain in very decent amounts, helps reduce oxidative stress in the body which occurs as a result of inflammation. Therefore, eating pecans will help reduce your risk of suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia by protecting the tissues of your brain from damage. The copper and thiamine in pecans can also improve brain function, while the manganese helps to stabilise the brain’s synapses.
A research study of obese adults in 2018 reported that that eating a diet rich in pecan nuts for four weeks significantly improved the body’s ability to utilise insulin effectively, and also improved the ability of cells in the pancreas to manufacture insulin efficiently. Pecans are a great food for diabetics as they’re very effective for long-term blood sugar control.
An important source of helpful minerals and vitamins
Pecans are packed with Vitamin A and E, and a wealth of beneficial minerals such as magnesium, calcium, zinc, phosphorous and potassium. They’re also extremely rich sources of several crucial B-complex groups of vitamins like riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, folic acid, pantothenic acid and vitamin B-6.
Pecan Nuts are super-tasty and extremely nutritious, so come along and browse our extensive range of pecan nuts and pecan nut products here!