Nutritional Facts of Almonds & Health Benefits

As a snacking food Almonds are very popular, especially because of the facts now known about their nutritional density. Almonds have a very rich nutritional content and support various functions in the body, providing some potential health benefits.

In fact, the supporting evidence shows that almonds might themselves have therapeutic health benefits. They have of course been used since the ancient times for medicinal purposes by the Greeks, Persians and Chinese.

This is because the consumption of almonds is linked to positive effects on body weight, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Almonds might also encourage a positive gut environment as a prebiotic food, enhancing gut health and therefore promoting other health benefits on the body as a whole.

We will cover some of the core nutritional facts about almonds and how they could provide health benefits as a nutritionally dense food.

Almonds: Nutritional Density & Content

Almonds are nut seeds from the almond or sweet almond tree. As they are seeds, in terms of their nutritional density, they are rich in specific unsaturated fats and oils. They also contain large stores of proteins too. An intake of around 30 grams of Almonds a day is recommended as part of a possible heathy diet.

In 100g of almonds there are 21.4 grams of protein, 20 grams of carbs, 10.8 grams of healthy digestive fibre and 51.1 grams of lipids or fats, providing a total of 626kcal of energy.

Almond Glycaemic Index

Because of their lower glycemic index and good ratio of unsaturated healthy oils or fats to saturated fat, almonds offer a healthy source of energy as a snack. In fact, one nutritional study has shown that the glycemic index of almonds is almost half of starchy potatoes.

Ensuring you eat healthy foods as a means of energy production in the body is really important for your overall wellbeing. Overeating unhealthy foods can lead to the development of various health conditions.

The lower glycemic index of almonds as a snacking food could lower risk of diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Lower glycemic foods are associated with protecting the body against insulin surges, long term insulin resistance and the development of diabetes.

In fact, due to the nutritional composition of almonds they actually improved healthy weight loss as a part of a low-calorie diet. Almonds may also be able to support healthy energy production through their elevated fat and protein levels. When the cells of the body go into ketosis, if there is low available glucose, they use proteins and fats instead to support energy requirements.

This is how almonds may support healthy weight loss. They providing nutrients that support healthy ketosis and protect the protein levels in your body.

Prebiotic Fibre in Almonds

Almond puts another steak in as a superfood with its prebiotic potential, offering a decent amount of prebiotic fibre for gut microbiota to use as their energy source. Studies have shown that almonds increase the numbers of beneficial gut bacteria.

This encourages healthy gut bacteria to develop and they can also directly influence your health, including healthy weight loss and mood sensations.

Almond Specific Antioxidants

Almonds can also protect against harmful surges in damaging free radical activity in certain conditions. Free radicals damage tissues in the body, sometimes causing irreversible cell damage. This is why it is important to consume healthy energy producing foods.

Almonds contain high levels of antioxidants in their seed coating to protect from these sorts of free radical damages. Studies have shown that antioxidant rich almonds support reduced oxidative stress in the body, especially the skin.

The skins of almonds contain 30 different antioxidants such as catechin, quercetin, kampferol and phenolic compounds. Polyphenols are well known antioxidants and almonds are rich sources of polyphenols. Blood levels showed a reduction in oxidised LDL cholesterol when adding almonds to one’s diet.

Source of Healthy Fats

Of the total lipids in 100g of almonds, 42.4 grams of lipids are unsaturated with 11.2 grams of those being healthy poly unsaturated fatty acids.

Lipids and fats form essential components of the human body including certain hormones, cell membranes and nerve cells. A fatty substance called myelin wraps around nerve cells to enhance their function, while the brain contains high fatty acid levels. Phospholipids, or fatty acids, are essential to cell structure. Fatty acids play an essential role in steroid hormone synthesis in the body.

Fats are essential to one’s health and wellbeing but absorbing healthy fats, relative to unhealthy fats, is just as important to consider in one’s diet. Monounsaturated fats have a positive effect on the levels of oxidised LDL, like with antioxidants as we mentioned earlier.

Unsaturated fats like those found in almonds might have some wider health benefits such as a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Polyunsaturated fatty acids may have positive effects on body inflammation and also heart functioning. Eating nuts, such as almonds, has in fact been shown to protect against certain heart diseases, which will be due to their nutritional profiles.

Amino Acid Nutritional Profile of Almonds

The amino acid profile almond nuts offer is quite rich and diverse. Almonds offer 0.208g tryptophan, 0.774g isoleucine, 0.154g methionine, 2.46g arginine, 1.31g proline and 4.25g glutamic acid per 100 grams.

Arginine

Arginine is a particularly important amino acid, having various metabolic roles in the body, including the synthesis of nitric oxide and creatine. Creatine is important as an energy use molecule. While nitric oxide is a signalling molecule, that is released after inflammatory damage. NO or nitric oxide stimulates anti-inflammatory or calming effects in response such as smooth muscle and blood vessel relaxation.

Proline

The body produces many different proline-rich proteins. Proline is implicated in the production of collagen and helps to maintain normal skin appearance, bone cartilage, bone density as well as normal wound healing. Studies have shown that prolines within collagen proteins could play a role in its crosslinking within cartilage. Proline has been shown to have the potential to improve skin protein synthesis. Proline-rich collagen and proline have been shown to improve skin elasticity.

Nutritional Density of Vitamins in Almonds

In fact, almonds also cover some of the key nutritional compounds too such as vitamin E, vitamin B6, biotin and niacin. In terms of these key nutrients, almonds provide 25.63 mg of vitamin E, 0.101 mg of B6, 57µg of biotin and 3.77 mg of niacin per 100g of almonds. This slightly exceeds the vitamin E levels recommended per day.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is an essential nutritional compound for antioxidant activity in the outer skin layers. This vitamin has a particularly profound effect in cell membranes as a protective antioxidant for cell membrane fatty acids and lipids. In fact, vitamin E is also fat soluble. This makes the absorption of your daily vitamin E through eating almonds nutritionally efficient because of the natural healthy fat content in almonds.

Niacin

Niacin, vitamin B3, levels are also fairly high in almonds providing about a fifth of your recommended RDA. This is a water-soluble B vitamin with a spectacular amount of uses in the body, from energy metabolism to DNA repair.

Healthy Source of Minerals

Almonds are a good source of magnesium, offering 258mg of magnesium per 100g of almonds. They are also rich in zinc, potassium, manganese, calcium and copper. Offering 2.86 mg of zinc, 733 mg of potassium, 2.15 mg of manganese, 254 mg of calcium and 0.91 mg of copper per 100g of almonds.

Magnesium

Magnesium is a key nutrient for muscle relaxation and nerve signalling, with 100g of almonds providing almost the entire RDA for magnesium. Almonds also provide a rich source of copper or about half of the RDA per 100g of almonds. Copper is used in nerve cells, to help normal functioning and also in signalling of the brain.

Potassium

Potassium levels are quite high in almonds compared to the RDA. In a large survey of nutrient intake, only 3% of Americans were eating enough potassium. 100g of almonds provides under a third of your RDA intake. Lower potassium levels are associated with high blood pressure and strokes. Potassium is implicated in proper kidney function and heart health. Low potassium levels are related to increased chances of developing kidney stones too.

Zinc

Zinc is also an important mineral, within almonds there is about a fourth of your RDA per 100g of almonds. As an important general body antioxidant, zinc protects the cells from oxidative damage while promoting good sexual health in both men and women. Zinc is also related to positive male reproductive performance.

Conclusion

Almonds are nutritionally rich in certain key amino acids and minerals. Some of these amino acids are important in energy function or collagen production for healthy skin and joints. They are rich in magnesium which is essential for muscle and nerve signalling. Almonds are also saturated in potassium, which is needed for proper kidney and normal heart functioning.

Almonds also contain a spectrum of healthy fatty acids that might also contribute to proper function of the metabolism, nervous system, steroid hormone synthesis and circulatory system functioning. They may also be able to positively influence gut microbiota. This may have a number of health outcomes, including the maintenance of a healthy weight.

Nuts in general are usually also high in vitamin E. Almonds are no exception to this. Vitamin E is an essential antioxidant vitamin, that protects fatty acids from degradation, particularly in the cell membrane. Almonds are also high in certain secondary plant molecules that also have high antioxidant activities within the body.

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