Pecans Nutrition

Americans have always been in love with pecan nuts and pecan pies. Pecan is the only native American tree nut and is considered to be one of the healthiest nut in the world. The Adam of pecans was planted in 1700s in North Mexico and the first US plantings happened to be in Long Island, New York in 1772. Since then pecan has successfully been able to secure the first position in the list of America's most favorite dry fruit! Researches conducted over the recent years affirm that pecans contain natural antioxidants and are heart-healthy nuts. Pecans are also known to have cholesterol lowering and weight control properties.

The Nutty Pecan Trivia: America is the largest producer of pecans in the world and contributes 80% of the total crop of pecans in the world.

Pecan Nuts and Nutrition Benefits

One of the most significant facts of pecans nutrition is that these nuts are the best antioxidants. If you add a handful of pecan nuts to your daily diet, it will help to subdue the blood lipids to get oxidized unnecessarily. This helps in preventing coronary heart diseases. Pecan nut contains vitamin E which is a natural antioxidant that protects blood lipids from getting oxidized. No wonder, pecan nuts are topmost ranked nuts with highest antioxidant capacitance, among all the other nuts.

Another distinct factor is that they have cholesterol lowering properties. After an extensive research carried out by Dr. Ronald Eitenmiller from University of Georgia, it has been proved that the plant sterols in pecans have cholesterol-lowering characteristics. Heart patients now have a reason to rejoice, at least when it comes to pecan nuts!

Research has also confirmed that pecan nuts help in weight loss. According to researches consumption of these nuts help in increasing the metabolic rate of the body and improves satiety.

Pecans are called 'heart-healthy' nuts. The reason behind this is that the unsaturated fat content in pecan is supposed to be the heart-healthy fat. Sixty percent of the fat content in pecans is mono unsaturated and the leftover thirty percent is polyunsaturated. This means that the saturated fat content in pecan nuts is very low and the unsaturated fats are heart-healthy. Besides, pecans contain zero trans fats.

The Nutty Pecan Trivia: So, you have problem with none of the above, yet searching for a reason to eat pecans? The zinc in pecans will add a 'zing' to your love life. Haven't you heard that zinc helps in testosterone levels? Need I elaborate?

Coming to the real nutrition of pecans, let me tell you at the first place that pecan nuts contain 19+ vitamins and minerals. Vitamins from the B group, vitamin A, vitamin E, calcium, potassium, folic acid, phosphorus, zinc and magnesium are also present in pecans. If we look at the daily value of required fiber for our body, pecans provide 10% of the total fiber. Pecans are rich source of proteins and contain less carbohydrates and zero cholesterol. They are best-suited for sodium restricted diet for heart patients and those with high blood pressure, as they are sodium-free nuts.

The Nutty Pecan Trivia: If pecans could be used as bricks to build a building, it would take 11,624 pecans to build a skyscraper as tall as the Empire State Building!

Pecans Nutritional Facts

• Pecans are one of the very few sodium-free and fiber-rich nuts in the world.
• Pecans are a rich source of gamma tocopherol which is a chemical compound derived from vitamin E. It supports heart health, prevents heart diseases, promotes respiratory health, helps in blood circulation and is very good for your brain.
• Pecans also contain some of the phytochemicals.
• 90% of the fat content in pecans contain unsaturated fats.

The Nutty Pecan Trivia: Ever thought of swimming in pecans? Well, fill up an empty Olympic level swimming pool with 144 million pecan nuts and your pecan pool is ready to take a dip!

Calories in Pecans

Pecan might seem to be a high-calorie nut but the best part of those calories is that 90% of fats are unsaturated, apart from pecan being sodium-free. Let's take a look at the calorie count of your favorite nutty delicacy.

Quantity	Calories	Fat	Carbohydrates	Proteins
1 oz (20 halves) 28.3 g	196	20.4 g	3.9 g	2.6 g
1 cup halves (108.0 g)	746	77.7 g	15.0 g	9.9 g
1 cup chopped (119.0 g)	822	85.6 g	16.5 g	10.9 g

The Nutty Pecan Trivia: If pecans had legs and could stand in a line, to reach the moon, the line would be massively long with 10 billion pecans standing one after the other!

Candied Pecans Nutrition

Candied pecans are the best examples of how a low-calorie treat can be irresistibly delicious at the same time! Candied pecans is a nutty delight that we all would love to hog on all-day-long. But watch out for the calorie-count. Well, a serving of an ounce of candied pecans contain 190 calories, 17 g of fat, out of which 10 g are mono unsaturated fats 4 g are polyunsaturated fats. Candied pecans are cholesterol-free. The sodium content in this nutty delight is limited to 75 mg. In our daily diet requirement (based on a 2000-calorie diet), we have been restricted to 2.37 g of sodium. Thus the sodium content in candied pecans is as low as 3%! And if you feel like counting those carbs, they just amount to 30% of your daily carbohydrate needs, with a content as low as 10 g.

The Nutty Pecan Trivia: The pecan equation of relativity says that, 1 watermelon=5640 pecan halves!

Pecans continue to be America's favorite dry fruit nut, and after knowing about its nutrition, I am sure it will be a global favorite soon! So throw away that burger in the trash and grab a handful of pecans instead!