Macadamias are considered the world’s finest nut, a delicious tree nut and favorite snack food that garners high marks for flavor and crunchy texture.
Macadamias have a rich, buttery flavor that makes them unbeatable and they are widely used in commercial food production to enhance the flavor of foods and beverages. The story of macadamias doesn’t end there, however.
Medical researchers and food scientists have been studying macadamia nuts to determine their potential in relation to human health. In recent years, nuts such as hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios and macadamias have been in the spotlight. Much has been discovered about nuts and why their consumption is beneficial to humans.
Macadamia Nut Health Benefits
Macadamia nuts are a high energy food, offering protein and fiber and loaded with other important nutrients that impact favorably on human health.
- Antioxidants--macademias contain phytosterols, which offer strong antioxidant potential. Antioxidants in macadamias have been associated with a decreased risk of development of cancers in the human body.
- Carbohydrates--macademias deliver energy in the form of complex carbohydrates
- Fiber--macadamias contain soluble fibres such as lignans, hemicellulose, and amyiopectins.
- Phytochemicals--tocopherols and tocotrienols
- Protein--macadamias contain high levels of protein and all the essential amino acids, which are crucial for supporting bodily health
- Minerals--calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, selenium
- Monounsaturated fats--macadamias contain high amounts of monounsaturated fats, which reduce blood serum cholesterol levels
- Vitamins--vitamin E, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, folate
Macadamia Nut Oil Benefits
Macadamias also contain natural oils. The nuts are high in heart-friendly monounsaturated fat, which contains oleic fatty acid as well as paimitoleic fatty acid (also present in fish oils). Macadamias come in tops for containing the highest amount of monounsatarated fatty acids in a natural, commercially available food, while being low in polyunsaturated and saturated fats. The type of fat humans eat, rather than the total amount of fat, can play a significant role in future health. Macadamias deliver the right type of fat for optimal health.
Macadamia Heart Health Benefits
While macadamias deliver the goods nutritionally, they are also contain a high proportion of monounsaturated fat and thus are of benefit in relation to high cholesterol and heart health.
- Macadamia nuts are 75% fat by weight, and 80% of this is monounsaturated. A trial to study serum lipid effects of a high monounsaturated fat diet based on macadamia nuts demonstrated that, as compared to the typical American diet, a diet that included macadamia nuts (37% energy derived from fat) demonstrated beneficial effects on cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels.
- Another study, conducted to assess the cholesterol-lowering potential of macadamias, demonstrated that macadamia nut consumption benefited 17 hypercholesterolemic men. Over a 4-week period, the men were given 40/90 g/d of macadamia nuts. At the end of the study, their total and LDL cholesterol levels had decreased by 3.0 and 5.3%. HDL had increased by 7.9%. The study supported the benefits of macadamia nuts as part of a healthful diet, in modifying plasma lipid profile in hypercholesterolemic men, even in diets that were high in fat. (M.L. Garg, P. Rudra, R. Blake, R. Wills, 2003, Journal of Nutrition, 133:1060-3).
Cautionary note: avoid salted, oil-roasted macadamia nuts. Macadamias are best eaten as nature intended.
Sources:
- Nut Consumption and Blood Lipid Levels
- Preedy/Watson/Patel, Nuts and Seeds in Health and Disease Prevention, Academic Press; 1 edition (April 28, 2011)
- The Nutritional Characteristics and Health Benefits of Macadamias
- Eugster, Rachel, Seeds and Nuts (Ingredients of a Balanced Diet), Franklin Watts (March 11, 2010)
Further Reading:
Health Benefits of Nuts--once considered a fattening snack food, nuts have received a second and serious look, as their astonishing health benefits have been discovered.
Melody Rhodes - M. Rhodes is author of the Bedbug Books. She's been published in Canada, U.S. U.K. & NZ and has won awards for her poetry/prose.
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