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News: Almonds Have 20 Percent Fewer Calories
Greatist News examines and explains the trends and studies making headlines in fitness, health, and happiness. Check out all the news here.
What’s tastier than a handful of almonds? That very same handful but with way fewer calories than we once thought. A new study from the United States Department of Agriculture found that almonds have 20 percent fewer calories than food scientists previously believed [1]. Scientists now say a 28-gram serving of almonds has 129 calories, instead of the 170 calories listed on most nutrition labels.
The Study
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 lucky scientists then got to analyze volunteers’ excrement. 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.
Can We Trust It?
Other research has pointed out some potential problems with the Atwater factors. Earlier in 2012, the same scientists found pistachios had five percent fewer calories than they’d thought [2].
But the USDA is being cautious and hasn’t officially recalculated the almond’s caloric value. And hold off on that "A"B&J — nut butters are a different story. When we chew or smoosh a nut's cell wall, we get access to the fat that's stored inside [3]. So nut butters give us more access to the nuts' fat than the raw variety does [4].
Even for raw-almond fanatics, the new findings obviously aren’t an excuse to scarf down a keg-full of the good stuff this weekend, but a few extra nuts is okay. Celebrate with a pal and a package of almonds and, well, go nuts.
Are you psyched or skeptical about the new findings? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Works Cited
- Discrepancy between the Atwater factor predicted and empirically measured energy values of almonds in human diets. Novotny, J.A. Gebauer, S.K., Baer, D.J. USDA, Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville Human Nutrition Resarch Center, Beltsville, MD. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2012;96(2):296-301.⤴
- Measured energy value of pistachios in the human diet. Baer, D.J., Gebauer, S.K., Novtony, J.A. USDA, Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville Human Nutrition Resarch Center, Beltsville, MD. British Journal of Nutrition 2012;107(1):120-5.⤴
- Mastication of almonds: effects of lipid bioaccessibility, appetite, and hormone response. Cassidy, B.A., Hollis, J.H., Fulford, A.D., et al. Department of Foods and Nutrition, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2009;89(3):794-800.⤴
- Absorption of whole peanuts, peanut oil, and peanut butter. Levine, A.S., Silvis, S.E. New England Journal of Medicine 1980;303(16):917-8.⤴
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Comments Leave a comment
Staleek
This is why calories-in/calories-out doesn't always seem to work out for people quite like it should. We're working with bad data based primarily on a 100 year old study. It's well past time we started from scratch determining the caloric value of food. Especially given recent studies showing the differing effects of low-fat, low-carb, normal diets. We have more than enough information to know that the foundations of our basic understanding of nutrition are profoundly rotten.
August 9, 2012 • 6:15 pm
ArmiLegge
Great post. This gives people some more understanding of why weight loss is often not perfectly aligned with their caloric deficit (and why weight gain is not always perfectly aligned with their caloric surplus), and a good reason to eat a few extra almonds :)
August 9, 2012 • 7:09 pm
Vegetarians
I am grateful I found your page. I was looking for a perfect summer dessert and this peach cobbler is just what I need. Besides peaches, what other fruits can I add for variety of flavors?
August 13, 2012 • 1:51 am
Vegetarians
I love almonds and to discover that it has lower calories makes me love it even more. Are there other nuts that are lower in calories as well?
August 13, 2012 • 1:52 am
Calorie-Smart.com
I love almonds! :)
August 10, 2012 • 10:10 am
trajayjay
I think that if it's too good to be true, it probably is. It's like the concept of negative Calorie foods- that you can eat celery (or some other veggie) and it burns a lot of Calories.
Though this does sound true, I've heard similar reports of not absorbing all the calories from nuts. But whether we do or not, I'll continue to quaff down my peanuts, pecans and cashews
May 14, 2013 • 9:27 pm
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