What’s tastier than a handful of almonds? That very same handful but with fewer calories than we once thought.
A new study from the United States Department of Agriculture found that almonds have 32 percent fewer calories than food scientists previously believed (1). Scientists now say a 28-gram serving of almonds has 115 calories, instead of the 170 calories listed on most nutrition labels.
Eighteen healthy men and women with an average age of 56 took part in a study with three 18-day phases. During each phase, subjects chowed down on an identical, controlled diet except that researchers switched up the amount of raw almonds different groups ate. The scientists then got to analyze volunteers’ excrement. It turns out the fat content in the feces of participants who ate nuts was higher than in the feces of their nut-free friends. The study authors say that’s because we don’t absorb all the fat that’s actually in almonds. Now they’re suggesting the standard guidelines for calculating nutritional deets (the Atwater factors) might not work for nuts.
For researchers this anomaly is explained by a lower digestibility of certain components of almonds. They believe that this problem concerns all types of oilseeds. This is good news for all those who crack for almonds, especially as these are rich in minerals and antioxidants and could fight diabetes and cardiovascular disease (1)(2). Prefer almonds from organic, fresh or dried, salt free and non-pruned to take advantage of all the nutrients.