Healthy Macadamia Nuts


Macadamia nuts were originally found in Australia. They grow in rainforest areas on large evergreen trees that have bush shape which is why the nuts are sometimes called Bush nuts. The trees are often used as decoration for their beautiful shiny foliage and unique flowers. First commercial orchards were planted in 1880s in New South Wales, Australia. Later the trees were planted in Hawaii, Brazil, South Africa and a few other countries.

The native Australians call the nuts gyndl, jindilli and boombera. When they were discovered by Europeans, British botanist Ferdinand von Mueller named them after his friend Dr. John MacAdam, a scientist of the Philosophical Institute of Australia.

When the nutrition value of macadamia nuts was studied they became restricted from many diets because of the big percent of monounsaturated fat in them which is the highest among all nuts (75%). “Macadamia nuts have a bad reputation for having a lot of fat, but it turns out the fats don’t impact cholesterol,” says University of Hawaii Professor of Medicine, J. David Curb.

Together with Brazil nuts and cashews the macadamias were excluded from U.S. Food and Drug Administration list of healthy nuts because of the high level of fat.

The best example of a product that has a lot of monounsaturated fat and at the same time lowers cholesterol level as macadamia nuts is olive oil. Everybody knows how good it is for our body and doesn’t doubt its nutritious value.

So, the nuts won’t ruin the diet or add weight, decreasing the low-density cholesterol level. The scientists sponsored by The Hershey Company established Healthy Heart diet the results of which they compared with standard American diet. During the study they were giving 1.5 ounces of macadamia nuts (6-20 nuts) to the participants every day for five weeks. The nuts were given as snacks or mixed in meals as salad toppings and in cookies or muffins.

The results were published in the Journal of Nutrition and showed the everyday macadamia nuts consumption reduced cholesterol level by 9.4% and low density lipoprotein level by 8.9%. Triglyceride level in the participants’ blood got lower as well.

“We found that the reduction in LDL or bad cholesterol we observed was greater than would be predicted by just the healthy fats in the nuts alone,” says Dr. Amy E. Griel, a recent Penn State Ph.D. recipient in nutrition and now senior nutrition scientist at The Hershey Company. “This indicates that there is something else in the nuts that helps lower cholesterol.”

The Australian researchers made a similar study which proved the nuts lowered cholesterol level. According to their data after four weeks the diet began the participants lost a little more than a pound (0.54 kg) of their weight while eating their usual food with Macadamias, the LDL cholesterol was down 5.3% and HDL (good cholesterol) went up 7.9%.

Besides monounsaturated fatty acids Australian scientists found plant sterols in the nuts which lower LDL as well. Their amount is not as high as in the “smart” margarine where the sterols added, but the combination of fat, sterols and other elements in Macadamias makes them as effective as margarine.

Macadamia nuts are also good for human’s body because they contain Vitamis A, B1, B2, Niacin, Calcium, Iron, Phosphorus, Magnesium and Potassium.

Michael Holms

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Generic Rimonabant (Zimulti) is a drug that promotes loss of weight by preventing the digestion and absorption of dietary fat.

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Posted on February 4, 2009 
Filed Under Cholesterol lowering products and medication

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