Hello, and welcome to the Nutrition Diva podcast. I'm your host, Monica Reinagel. And today's

episode was suggested by Alex, who wrote, can you do an episode on the Peely Nut? I've never

seen or heard of it before, but all of a sudden it's popping up in my social media feeds.

And supposedly it's super nutritious. But I feel like we've been down this road before. So what's

the real deal? Alex, I'd be happy to devote an episode to the Peely Nut. And that spelled P-I-L-I.

And you know, isn't it amazing that in this era of global everything that there are still so many

foods that you've never heard of? And Alex is right. The Peely Nut is having a bit of a moment.

In the already crowded nut space, Peely Nut vendors are trying to carve out a niche for this

little-known nut. So of course, it was only a matter of time before the superfood label would be

invoked. And internet search for the health benefits of Peely Nuts will quickly yield a list of

impressive claims such as, fights inflammation, reduces cholesterol, neutralizes free radicals,

strengthens bones, helps you sleep, enhances cognitive function. Well, the first thing that you

need to know is that none of these claims are based on human research that's specifically

been done on the Peely Nut. In fact, to my knowledge, there is no research linking Peely Nuts to

specific health outcomes in humans with the exception of a single study reporting a single

allergic reaction. And just side note, if you have a tree nut allergy, you may want to exercise

caution with Peely Nuts. In fact, there are only six papers that I could find that even mentioned

Peely Nuts in the entire PubMed database, and all but one of them were published since 2017.

So all of these health claims that you'll see for Peely Nuts, if they're based on anything at all,

are based on their nutritional content. For example, calcium has been found to strengthen bones,

and Peely Nuts contain calcium. Therefore, the logic goes, Peely Nuts must strengthen your bones.

Although it is worth noting that one ounce of Peely Nuts provides only four percent of your daily

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