Ads for a particular nut say it's high in antioxidants

Details

Created on 05, May, 2023

A nut grower association claims that this particular tree nut is “loaded” with antioxidants...

They are misleadingly using nutrient data per 100 g, which is not the standard/valid serving size for nuts, and is almost 600 calories-worth of the nuts, but still is only a good source of (i.e., not “high in”) two antioxidants approved for labeling/marketing claims. One serving of nuts is supposed to be one ounce (28 g), an amount that does not provide even a good source of this nut’s two most prevalent antioxidants, vitamin E (only 5% of Daily Value) and selenium (only 3%). Also, they are comparing the antioxidant “activity” of dry nuts with that of berries that are mostly water by weight. This is why there are serving sizes designated for each category of food... it is an invalid comparison otherwise.

This variety of nut does provide many beneficial nutrients, but we should not be eating only one kind of nut. Each has different nutrient strengths, so it is better to eat a variety.