Roasted Nuts Have More Nutrients!
Roasted nuts have more vitamins and minerals than raw nuts. They contain more antioxidants, fiber, protein, iron and zinc. Also they provide a higher amount of healthy fats compared to other types of nut. Roasted nuts are not only healthier but they are also tastier too.
You will definitely like them better if you choose to eat them regularly rather than occasionally or infrequently (as most people do).
Nutritional Value Of Roasted Nuts
The nutritional value of roasted nuts is much higher than those of raw nuts. Most people don’t realize it, but the nutrition values of roasted nuts are actually higher than those of raw nuts. For example, the antioxidant content in roasted peanuts is greater than that in raw peanuts. Roasted peanuts have more vitamin E and manganese and less saturated fat and cholesterol than their unroasted counterparts.
Roasted peanuts are also high in fiber and other beneficial nutrients.
Roasted Nuts Are Easier To Digest!
If you prefer eating roasted nuts frequently, then you may want to consider consuming them regularly instead of occasionally or infrequently. Roasted nuts are easy to digest because they are lower in calories and fat compared with raw nuts. So, if you enjoy eating roasted nuts often, then you might like to start doing so more often as well.
Acrylamide In Roasted Nuts
Acrylamide is a potential carcinogen found in starchy foods that are cooked or baked at high temperatures. Roasting nuts, potatoes and grains can create acrylamide. Although there is concern about acrylamide, the FDA has set a ‘safe’ level for it of around 1ppb. For roasted peanuts, this safe level is 5ppb.
This means that if you eat roasted nuts, you are not in danger of developing cancer from acrylamide.
So What Is Better?
So is it better to eat raw or roasted nuts?
Well, as long as you eat a healthy and balanced diet either way, you’ll be fine. If you do prefer to eat more nuts rather than less, then substitute some of the oily fish in your diet with roasted peanuts instead to make up the difference.
Also, it’s important to consider the types of nuts that you eat. Peanuts are technically a legume, not a nut, so they have different nutritional values to standard nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts. Also, peanuts are relatively high in fat, so you may want to avoid eating too many of them if you’re watching your weight.
If you can’t decide whether to eat roasted or raw nuts, then perhaps try a mixture of both.
For example, why not make up a batch of healthy homemade trail mix by combining roasted peanuts with raw almonds?
This way, you’ll be able to experience the best of both worlds!
However, you should avoid eating raw tree nuts that you have bought from the store. These may be contaminated with deadly pathogens such as E. coli and Salmonella which can make you very sick indeed! Always remember to cook all your nuts thoroughly before eating them.
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Sources & references used in this article:
B-vitamins, carotenoids and α-/γ-tocopherol in raw and roasted nuts by W Stuetz, W Schlörmann, M Glei – Food chemistry, 2017 – Elsevier
Nuts, especially walnuts, have both antioxidant quantity and efficacy and exhibit significant potential health benefits by JA Vinson, Y Cai – Food & function, 2012 – pubs.rsc.org
Aflatoxin in raw and salt-roasted nuts (pistachios, peanuts and walnuts) sold in markets of Tabriz, Iran by A Ostadrahimi, F Ashrafnejad, A Kazemi… – Jundishapur journal …, 2014 – ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Influence of roasting conditions on health-related compounds in different nuts by W Schlörmann, M Birringer, V Böhm, K Löber… – Food chemistry, 2015 – Elsevier
Nutrition attributes and health effects of pistachio nuts by M Bulló, M Juanola-Falgarona… – British Journal of …, 2015 – cambridge.org