Cashews – the Luxury Nut
I don’t quite know why, but I have always thought of cashew nuts as rather sophisticated – perhaps it has something to do with the price! They are a delicious snack, a popular addition to many savoury dishes and unlike many other nuts they are less likely to damage your teeth as they are quite soft in texture.
The reason why they are always sold without their shells is because the shells contain an irritant poison that can cause skin problems – not surprising really as the cashew plant is related to poison ivy!
What is in a (dry roasted) Cashew?
Nutrients are based on 100 grams and a raw tomato
- Calories: 579.41 kcal
- Protein: 14.70 grams
- Carbohydrates: 32.35 grams
- Fibre: 2.94 grams
- Fat: 47.06 grams
- Calcium: 44.11 milligrams
- Phosphorus: 494.11 milligrams
- Potassium: 570.58 milligrams
- Zinc: 5.58 milligrams
- Iron: 6.17 milligrams
- Magnesium: 261.76 milligrams
- Vitamin A: 0 micrograms
- Vitamin B1: 0.20 milligrams
- Vitamin B2: 0.20 milligrams
- Vitamin B3: 1.47 milligrams
- Vitamin B6: 0.264 milligrams
- Vitamin C: 0 milligrams
- Vitamin E: 0.59 micrograms
- Folate (folic acid): 70.59 micrograms
High in protein: Low in bad fats
Like all nuts they are a good source of protein and are cholesterol free. They also contain less fat than some other nuts and 75% of the fat content is unsaturated fatty acids, which is the healthy type of fat.
Antioxidants and Copper
They contain antioxidants that help protect against cancer and heart disease and have a high copper content which helps the body utilize iron which in turn helps promote the production of healthy red blood cells.
Phosphorus, Magnesium, Selenium and Zinc
They also contain phosphorus: good for bones and teeth; magnesium: also good for bones and insufficient magnesium can cause high blood pressure. Cashews contain selenium which has vital antioxidant properties and they also have plenty of zinc which helps with digestion, the metabolism and is also very important for healthy eyes.
Remember to eat the plain variety, not roasted or salted ones and unless you want to pile on the calories, make sure you don’t eat more that three servings a week (an ideal serving is 30 grammes which is approximately eighteen cashews.)
Too tempting?
If like me you find it impossible not to eat your way through a whole bag of nuts once you have started – make sure you buy them in small bags… it’s less tempting!
May 2nd, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Some mistake in the article on cashew. Although stated to have high copper content, there is no mention of copper in the cashew nutrient list? A mistake, or is theer some reason?
May 4th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Many thanks for your comment and it is really nice to know that people
do read the articles in such detail
The nutritional content we list are the same main nutrients that people
are concerned with. The writing after allows us to mention any extra
nutrients that the particular food has that many people would not
consider (mainly minerals). We have kept this pattern for all our food
coverage to help maintain good continuity throughout the blog. The
cashew has a copper content of 2.2mg per 100 grams. The recommended
daily allowance is 2mg so as you can see it really does contain a good
supply of copper. I hope this extra information is of use to you and you
will continue to enjoy reading our articles at beebleblog.com.
Thanks again
Hugo