Nut meat is Nature’s food product for supplying fats and proteins, superior in every way to animal flesh. Dr. Kellogg, of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, said:

“Nuts are rich in fat and protein. On account of their high fat content they are the most highly concentrated of all natural foods. A pound of nuts contains on an average more than 3,000 calories or food units, double the amount supplied by grains, four times as much as average meats and ten times as much as average fruits or vegetables.”

For example, according to Jaffi’s table, ten different kinds of our common nuts contain on an average 20.7% of protein, 53% of fat, and 18% of carbohydrate. Among all nuts the pecan has the largest percentage of fat and the best balanced proportion of protein, analysis showing 12% protein, 70% fat, and 18% carbohydrate.

Meat (round steaks) gives 19.8% of protein and 15.6% of fat, with no carbohydrate. A pound of average nuts contains the equivalent of a pound of beefsteak and, in addition, nearly a pound of butter and a third of a loaf of bread. The nut is, in fact, a sort of vegetable meat. Its composition is much the same as that of fat meat, only it is in much more concentrated form.

Knowing that the nut is a highly concentrated food, the question naturally arises, can the body utilize the energy stored in nuts as readily as that supplied by meat products?

The notion that nuts are difficult of digestion has really no foundation in fact. The idea is probably the natural outgrowth of the custom of eating nuts at the close of a meal when an abundance, more likely a superabundance of highly nutritious foods has already been eaten, and the equally injurious custom of eating nuts between meals. Neglect of thorough mastication must also be mentioned as a possible cause of indigestion following the use of nuts.

“The fat of nuts exists in a finely divided state, and in chewing of nuts a fine emulsion is produced so that nuts enter the stomach in a form best adapted for prompt digestion,” says Dr. Kellogg.

Pecans Furnish The Balanced Ration

“The pecan is a nut of immense economic value. The pecan furnishes practically a balanced ration. It is a highly concentrated and highly nutritious food. Compared with round steak, it contains one-twelfth as much water, two-thirds as much protein, from four to six times as much fat and has between three and four times as great fuel value.

Pecans contain most of the elements essential to the building of the frame and body tissues. The food value of pecans is rapidly becoming generally recognized, and it will not be long before the pecan will be extensively used not only as a substitute for certain classes of food, such as meats, but also a substitute for food of all classes.”—U. S. Congressional Record, Jan. 12, 1917.