Wednesday, August 8, 2012

The Truth About The Healthy Macadamia Nut

The truth about macadamia nuts has been unfavorable for some time. This has been due in part because of their high fat content and old unreliable information. 

Studies performed on the benefits of eating nuts has now proven to the world that all kinds of nuts are actually very high in nutrition. Even the FDA has now qualified nuts to be a healthy standard for eating and snacking. The FDA refuses to put the macadamia on the list of healthy standards due in part that over 85% of this nut is fat. The truth about this noted fat is that much of it is a good type of fat that the body needs and this in part is the confusion about its benefits.

Macadamias have a relatively short history compared to many other nuts. Most nuts that grow around the world have historical data that show trading amongst Indians and nomads from many corners of the globe. Some history dictates that certain types of nuts were used during the age of the cave man and others have history in parts of Europe dating nine thousand years old. With the macadamia, these only have a history known for as little as 200 years old that originated in Australia. That's right, the macadamia is native to Australia and not Hawaii like so many of us had thought in the past.

There are so many health benefits from the macadamia that the truth is slowly but surely coming out for others to know. Most nuts have a very high fat content in general, making them a task to add into a healthy eating habit. Like most things with this problem, eating them in moderation is the key to successfully adding them to a healthy diet. 

The major part of the fat content within this nut is unsaturated. With mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fats within the nut it is proven that these types of fat can be beneficial to the body.  Mono-unsaturated fat is the kind of fat that takes down the LDL levels; this is the bad cholesterol within the blood. At the same time, this same fat can bring up your good cholesterol, a unique benefit with consuming nuts.

Another great feature of the macadamia is the content of palmieoleic acid. This unique acid is within the mono-unsaturated fatty acids and is only known to the macadamia and no other nut or food of its kind. This rare feature helps slow down metabolism and does not allow the body to store to much fat. As noted before, this can only be achieved by regulating your intake of the nut to smaller portions.

Other great features include the presence of a high source of fiber. This noted fiber has been proven to help the body fend off certain kinds of cancer, heart disease and many other types of coronary issues. The same is true with the larger percentages of certain types of fats within this great nut. In conclusion, the fat content that is feared in this nut is actually one of its best attributes and should be considered when looking further into adding the macadamia nut into your diet.

Along with many important vitamins and minerals there are several other great nutritional benefits of the macadamia. They are rich in calcium and magnesium, both of which are a powerful force to bone structure. Magnesium also helps regulate the sugars in the blood system and to alleviate high blood pressure.  This nut also contains high amounts of potassium, which is essential for the operation of many of the organs of the body including heart, kidneys, muscles, nerves and the digestive system just to name a few.

The oil of this nut is another great significant healthy benefit. Comparing this oil to olive or canola oil is no match as macadamia oil has the lowest level of poly-unsaturated fat. There is a difference of 3% to an 8% levels in olive oil and a whopping 23% in canola. The only advantage of olive and canola oils are the low cooking temperatures which they can be used for.

 Macadamia oil is very stable at high temperatures and is higher in natural antioxidants which contain over four times the amount of vitamin E as olive oil alone.
Sodium is another great benefit of consuming this nut. This level is noted in the nuts natural state by eating them in their raw form. Snack nuts or baking with these nuts will change their sodium levels and can disrupt anyone hoping to keep a low salt diet. When buying snack nuts of this type always be sure how they are prepared as many of these have added oils and preservatives which can once again throw off any good affect one is trying to achieve by adding these nuts into your daily diet.

Knowing and understanding the benefits of this great nut are now being discovered. Consuming the correct portions and taking in the proper amounts of fat versus other types of foods is important to making a sound decision to what is best for you. Penn State University performed a test that showed how to substitute macadamia nut fat for other food fats. Two parties were involved and at the end of the multi week study it showed lower levels of cholesterol and body weight in each member, regardless of whether they were consuming the nuts or the non nut diet. This study was proof to many that consuming nuts in a regulated manner can allow anyone to add macadamias to your daily food intake.


Tim Walker is fast becoming an expert on the nuts of the world having spent a few months working for a retail network specalizing in that product.

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