In the Han Dynasty's "San Fu Huang Tu", peanuts were referred to as "thousand year old fruits". For thousands of years, they have not only been regarded as "longevity fruits" by Chinese people, but also as nuts with high cost-effectiveness in the eyes of nutrition experts.
Why recommend eating peanuts to protect blood vessels even though half of them are fat?
Interview with experts from Life Times (search for "LT0385" on WeChat to follow) and remind four types of people to avoid eating.
Interviewed experts
Qi Cuihua, Vice Chairman of Jinan Nutrition Society and Associate Professor of Food Science and Nutrition Department of Jinan University
Tang Molian, Clinical Nutritionist at Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Eating peanuts regularly makes blood vessels healthier
"Eating peanuts regularly can keep you healthy, and eating peanuts does not make you want to eat meat." This proverb expresses the ancient affirmation of the benefits of peanuts.
From the perspective of modern nutrition, dissecting the nutrition of a peanut requires mentioning "fat", which is a high content substance in peanuts, accounting for 49.4%.
In theory, with such a high fat content, the "three highs" population should eat less, but many people have heard the saying "peanuts protect blood vessels", which is mainly related to the following reasons:
High proportion of "good" fat
Although peanuts belong to high-fat foods, their fatty acid composition is relatively reasonable, with unsaturated fatty acids such as oleic acid and linoleic acid content exceeding 80%.
These components play a beneficial role in regulating blood lipids, promoting the formation of cholesterol esters and achieving normal lipid transport and metabolism.
Fatty acid "division of labor" cooperation
Compared to single fatty acids, a reasonable ratio of multiple unsaturated fatty acids is more friendly to blood lipid regulation.
Bioactive ingredients "transport" fats
Peanuts contain the bioactive ingredient lecithin, which is a component of biofilms and an important component of lipoproteins. It can promote the rational transport and metabolism of fat and cholesterol like a small boat, preventing excessive cholesterol and fat deposition on the blood vessel wall.
In addition, peanuts contain dietary fiber, choline, B vitamins, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and other nutrients that are beneficial for protecting blood vessels.
The three advantages of this "longevity fruit"
Due to the nutritional similarity between peanuts and nuts, they are classified into the nut group. In terms of health benefits, peanuts perform excellently in various components.
protein
High digestion and utilization rate
The protein content of peanuts is also not low, ranging from 25% to 30%, with over 90% of peanut protein being globulin, containing 18 amino acids, including 8 essential amino acids that cannot be synthesized by the human body.
Compared with other plant proteins, peanut protein has a high digestion rate, with a digestion coefficient of up to 90%, making it easy for the human body to absorb and utilize. Among them, the effective utilization rate of lysine is as high as 98.96%, which is 20% higher than that of soybeans.
Compared to other nuts, peanuts have a protein content second only to pumpkin seeds and watermelon seeds.
dietary fiber
Outstanding content
In the family of high dietary fiber foods, peanuts are also on the list, with a content of up to 8.5%.
In addition, peanuts also contain certain nutrients such as carbohydrates and vitamins, with vitamin E content being particularly prominent, which helps with antioxidant activity.
Phenolic substances
Assisted lipid-lowering therapy
The nutrition of peanut shells is also not acceptable