Here's What Happens When You Eat Cashews Every Day

 

Are you one of the many people who find cashews irresistible? It's not hard to see why. In addition to being a delicious and satisfying snack, cashews are also chock-full of nutrients like potassium, magnesium, phosphorous, manganese, selenium, and vitamin K. But is this enough to justify eating them every single day?

Like most things, too much of a good thing can be bad. There are pros and cons to eating cashews every day, and it's important to eat them in the right quantity if you don't want to counteract the benefits they provide. In this article, we'll let you know how to get the most out of these nuts, as well as let you in on some secrets you may

not have known about cashews.

You Spend A Lot Of Money

Remember how we said that cashews aren't really nuts? This is one of the things that makes them a fairly expensive snack. Cashews are technically the seeds of a "drupe" — a fruit that has a fleshy outer layer, then a hard shell that encases a seed (to help you visualize this, peaches are also drupes). But the complications don't stop there.

Cashews grow inside cashew apples, and must be extracted in order to be eaten. But this is a dangerous job, as the shell protecting the seed, a.k.a. the cashew itself, contains a toxic oil. 

You May Lower Your Cholesterol

Regardless of whether or not they're really nuts, botanically speaking, cashews are the third most popular tree nut eaten in the United States. This, however, causes consternation among some crowds, because cashews are said to contain too much saturated fat to make them a beneficial part of a balanced diet (more on that later on). According to a study published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, though, this is not entirely true.

This study found that snacking on cashews instead of potato chips lowered one's total cholesterol — specifically, LDL or "harmful" cholesterol — by five percent. This proves that daily consumption of a healthy amount of cashews (the suggested serving size is 1 ounce, or around 18 cashews) can actually be beneficial. So, the next time you're craving something crunchy, reaching for the cashews instead of something full of carbs would be a smarter diet choice.

You Increase Your Saturated Fat Intake

This is perhaps the biggest reason that cashews have a bad reputation, health-wise. Cashews contain 20 percent saturated fat, which disqualifies them from a health claim made by the FDA that suggests nuts can have a beneficial effect on heart health. However, there's more to this story than meets the eye.

Yes, it's true that cashews contain a significant amount of saturated fat. There is no denying that. And there is no denying that saturated fat is considered to be harmful to one's body in high amounts. But not all saturated fat is the same.

The saturated fat in cashews is stearic acid. This is a fatty acid that doesn't have much effect at all on cholesterol, which therefore makes this less of a black and white issue.

You May Reduce Your Chance Of Having A Heart Attack Or Stroke

Cashews contain many nutrients that are great for your body. They're high in magnesium, for one thing, which can reduce your risk of ischemic heart disease, which occurs when the blood flow to one's heart is too low. Magnesium also serves to keep your heart pumping regularly, and a deficiency of it can cause heart palpitations. As if that weren't enough, that same magnesium can also help reduce the risk of hemorrhagic strokes.

Several studies have shown that regular consumption of nuts like cashews can reduce the risk of heart attack, cardiovascular disease, and sudden death by cardiac event by 30-50 percent.

You Will Ingest A Lot Of Calories

The serving size for cashews is around 18 nuts. If that sounds like an odd amount, you can think of it as either 1 ounce or around 28 grams. While that might not seem like a lot, there is a reason for that number: Calories.

Cashews may have many pros when it comes to your health, but they also have one big con in the form of caloric content. That one 18-cashew serving contains 157 calories. The recommended daily calorie intake depends on age, weight, and gender, but to put it generally, the average man needs around 2500 calories per day, while the average woman needs around 2000. This number reduces by 500 if one is trying to lose weight, so you can see how this might be an issue. Consuming more than 157 calories during just one snack time, not even a meal, can make it harder to stick within your target calorie limit each day.

You Will Get Lots Of Protein

Protein is a vital part of any diet. Your body uses it to create and maintain muscle, hair, tissues, blood, enzymes, antibodies, and other things we just couldn't live without.

the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein is around 0.36 grams per pound of body weight. That amount goes up depending on your level of activity, whether or not you are pregnant, and other factors, but it's the bare minimum of protein you can take in per day without feeling unwell.

Cashews and other nuts are a good way to get at least some of that daily protein. In one serving of cashews, you get 5.16 g of protein. This is great news, because while many protein-rich foods like beef, pork, poultry, eggs, or milk are off-limits to vegetarians and vegans, cashews are one form of protein that doesn't come from animals.

You'll Have An Alternative To Dairy

Nobody ever said that your daily serving of cashews had to be actual cashews! Cashews can also be used to make dairy substitutes. Cashew milk, for example, is a form of plant-based milk substitute that's popular among both vegans and those who are lactose intolerant.

In its purest form, cashew milk is made from just cashews and water. The cashew hulls are removed after a soak in hot water, then the seeds are soaked one more time in cold, deionized water. They're then drained, rinsed off, and mashed up to create a slurry, which is then filtered and pasteurized. That last step makes it shelf stable and last longer in the fridge after opening. Other flavors or thickeners may be added to enhance the taste or consistency, and then you've got cashew milk.

Your Brain Will Be Healthier

Would you believe that cashews can help reduce the risk of dementia? Cashews have high levels of both polyphenols and carotenoids, which are powerful antioxidants. Both compounds are known for their ability to reduce inflammation in the brain, but polyphenols in particular are known for lowering the likelihood of developing dementia and for improving one's cognitive capabilities in general.

Polyphenols may also boost memory and learning capabilities, meaning that not only do cashews support your brain's healthy functions, they can actually help you take them to a whole new level. Talk about "brain food!"

There is even some evidence that cashews can improve mental health and mood. 

They contain tryptophan and Vitamin B6, which the brain uses to create the mood stabilizing neurotransmitter, serotonin.