Chemical composition and nutritive value of nuts grown in Italy

Cultivars of almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, walnuts grown in Italy and commercial samples of pine nuts were evaluated. Lipids were the main component: (from 50 to 74%) in all nuts, with oleic and linoleic acids representing more than 75% of the total fatty acids and linolenic acid in walnuts reaching 15%. Levels of saturated fatty acids were about: 10% in all nuts. Almond cultivars and pistachios were a good source of dietary fiber (up to 13%). Sucrose was the main sugar constituent; raffinose and stachyose were only found in hazelnuts, pine nuts and pistachios. The amino acid composition was similar in all the nuts with glutamic acid, arginine and aspartic acid accounting for about 40% of the protein. The Chemical Score ranged from 0.38 to 0.56, lysine being the limiting amino acid. Protein and lipid composition of walnut cultivars showed higher variability than almonds.