How do barukas, also known as baru almonds, compare to other nuts?
There is a new nut in the market called baru almonds, spelled “barukas” or baru nuts. Technically, it is not a nut but a seed native to the Brazilian Savannah, known as the Cerrado, which is now among the world’s most endangered ecosystems. Over the past 30 years, much of the Cerrado’s natural environment has been destroyed by large-scale cattle ranching and the production of crops to fatten cattle. If it was profitable not to cut down native trees and sell baru nuts, for example, that would be good for ecosystem health. But what about our health?
“Although baru nuts are popular and widely used, few studies report on their biological properties.” They are rich in polyphenol phytonutrients, which may account for their high antioxidant activity. (About 90% of their phytonutrients are in the peel.) Are they nutritious? Yes, but do they have any special health benefits—beyond curing rats?
Researchers found that people who were fed baru nuts showed lower cholesterol, which is said to indicate that nuts have “great nutritional potential” in preventing and controlling cholesterol problems. But humans were rats, not humans, and baru nuts were likened to lard. Almost everything lowers cholesterol compared to lard. However, there have been no reports on the impact of baru nut consumption on human health, until this: A randomized, controlled study of humans found that eating less than an ounce per day for six weeks led to a 9% decrease in LDL. Twenty grams is about 15 nuts or palm.
Like many other nut studies, even though the study subjects were told to add nuts to their regular diet, there was no weight gain, possibly because nuts are so filling that we cut back on other foods throughout the day. How good is a 9.4% LDL drop? It’s the kind of drop we’d get from regular almonds, although macadamias and pistachios might work even better, but those were very high doses. It seems that 20 grams of baru nuts works as well as 73 grams of almonds. So, on a per serving basis or on a per calorie basis, baru nuts seem really special.
There are studies of lower doses of nuts that show similar or even better results. In this one, for example, people were given 25 grams of almonds for just four weeks and experienced a 6% drop in their LDL cholesterol. In one study, after eating just 10 grams of almonds per day, or just seven almonds per day, study participants experienced a 30% decrease in LDL at the same time as baru nuts. LDL is three times better with half the amount of regular almonds, as you can see below and at 2:47 in my video. Are Baruka Nuts Very Healthy?.
The biggest reason why we are more confident about regular almonds than baru almonds is that studies have been done repeatedly in more than a dozen randomized controlled trials, and in one cholesterol-only study of baru nuts, researchers did not find a significant benefit for LDL cholesterol, even with the same dose of 20 grams given for a long time—a period of eight weeks.
That is disappointing, but not the main reason I would suggest choosing other nuts instead of baru nuts. I will do that because we can’t find raw baru nuts. They contain certain compounds that must be activated by heat before we eat them. The reason raw nuts are better is because of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), called glycotoxins, which are known to contribute to increased oxidative stress and inflammation.
Glycotoxins are naturally present in raw animal foods, and dry heat cooking like grilling can make things worse. The top three recorded levels were bacon, fried hot dogs, and fried chicken skin—nothing comes close to that, not even Chicken McNuggets, as you can see below and at 3:50 in mine. video.
However, any food high in fat and protein can form AGEs at high enough temperatures. So, while plant foods tend to have “relatively few AGEs, even after cooking,” there are plant foods that are high in fat, high in protein. But, again, AGEs are not a problem at all with most plant foods. Look at the AGE content of boiled tofu (for example, soup), grilled tofu, raw apple, baked apple, veggie burger-I was surprised that veggie burgers are very low in AGEs, even if they are baked or fried-and nuts and seeds, which are in the place of tofu, especially if they are roasted, which is why I suggest seeds and recommend green butter. to choose. See below again at 4:33 in mine video.
Doctor’s Note
In my Daily Dozen checklist, I recommend eating a quarter cup of nuts or seeds or two tablespoons of nut or seed butter each day. Why? See related posts below.
For those who don’t know about advanced glycation end products (AGEs), check out the first two videos I did back then: Glycotoxins again Avoiding Glycotoxins in Food.
