Brazil nuts are quickly becoming one of the hottest foods for improving health and longevity. Many raw nuts have great health properties, but Brazil nuts are definitely at the very top of the list as not many foods are able to improve your stamina, protect against cancer, and boost your metabolism, but these nuts can!
So what are the specific health benefits of Brazil nuts?
Well, let’s start at the very top with the anti-cancer powerhouse selenium. Brazil nuts are the densest food source of bioavailable selenium which is an antioxidant that plays many important roles in our body and can for example assist thyroid function. One of the most impressive benefits of selenium, based on a five-year study conducted at the University of Arizona and Cornell University, showed that “patients receiving selenium had a 63% decrease in cancer of the prostate, a 58% decrease in colon or rectal cancer and a 46% decrease in lung cancer.”
This is beyond impressive and brazil nuts can easily be part of an overall healthy diet plan because they contain rich amounts of other key nutrients as well. They are a great source of the antioxidant Vitamin E which is required to maintain cell membranes and protect the health of the skin. Brazil nuts are also an excellent source of several B-vitamins, which range in functions from improving brain health to boosting the metabolism.
How to many Brazil nuts should I eat?
Just 100g of Brazil nuts provides about 3485% of recommended daily intake of selenium. The 100g is equal to a big handful, but you definitely don’t need that much – and too much of anything can be problematic. Two to four nuts a day is a good average.
What to know when buying brazil nuts?
Many health food stores and grocery stores now carry Brazil nuts because they’re in such high demand. Make sure that they are firm and not rubbery when you bite into them, buttery texture when you chew, and be sure that they don’t smell “off” (biggest, but hardest to recognize warning sign). They should be kept in a cool, dry place and eaten relatively quickly.
How to eat them?
Cooked nuts pale in comparison to the vast benefits of raw nuts. If you want your nuts to be healthy, then please don’t cook them. Quality brazil nuts taste pretty nice on their own, or maybe with a pinch of sea salt.
Brazil nuts can be crushed and added to your favorite salad to provide some nice crunch. Toss 1 or 2 into your smoothie. Chopped and sprinkled on top of your favorite healthy dessert or yogurt. And having fresh Brazil nut butter with chocolate is also very delicious!
Beyond the Health Benefits – The Brazil Nut and its Conversation
But the Brazil nut is much more than just a healthy nut. Brazil nuts have a significant local and international market and are a natural link to conservation, since the trees only produce in a healthy rainforest ecosystem.
Endemic to the Amazon basin, these towering canopy trees grow to 165 feet and have a lifespan of several hundred years. In Peru, areas of forest with dense stands of Brazil nut trees are known as castañales. These areas are given as concessions to local Brazil nut harvesters, called castañeros, who manage them under contracts with the Peruvian forest service. Brazil nut concessions are privately managed conservation areas that allow harvesters and their families to make an income from intact forest. Brazil nut harvesters sell the nuts to local shelling factories, which pack and export the product overseas. This extractive activity provides more than half the yearly income for thousands of families in the Amazon and protects several million acres of forest from deforestation.
Watch this insightful video) for more information on the protection and work with Brazil Nut Harvesters by organizations such as Amazon Conservation Association, a group in Peru working to protect the natural environment of Peru, and its valuable nuts.
