Go Nuts for Nutrition

October 23, 2008

Nuts can liven up a salad, add crunch to pasta and add texture to stir-fry. Enjoying a handful of nuts can be healthful, too.

Nuts may help reduce your risk of heart disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer. In addition, they provide protein, folic acid, niacin, magnesium, selenium, zinc and other important vitamins and minerals. Nuts also contain more unsaturated fats than animal proteins.

For a good “healthy” fat composition, try walnuts, almonds, peanuts and pecans.

The amount of fat in nuts is high, so watch your portions. One ounce of nuts, which is 18 pecans or eight walnuts, contains between 160 and 200 calories.

Produced by ADA’s Public Relations Team