Pine Nut Values & Species

Pinon nuts have outstanding nutritional value and compare favorably with pecans, peanuts, and walnuts.  They supply all  amino acids and provide significant amounts of vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, and niacin.  The nuts of P. edulis are rich in phosphorus (1 245 mg/kg), which is equivalent to soybeans. 

Fatty Acid Information:
The fats of the piñons are also of high food quality. The most abundant fatty acids in the nuts of P. edulis and P. monophylla are unsaturated oleate, linoleate and linolenate. Pinus monophylla, P. nelsonii, P. maximartinezii, and P. edulis, from the same subsection Cembroides. These grow in semi-arid regions in the Southwest of the United States and in Mexico. They  are united by their low content of delta5-olefinic acids (1 % at most).   Dehulled seeds are generally rich in oil, and are characterized by high levels of both oleic and linoleic acids, generally with less than 12 % of saturated acids. Delta5-olefinic acids are low as compared to most other conifer species:

Comparison of Pinon Nut Food Values with other pine nuts 

Type of Nut	Protein (%)	Fat (%)	Carbohydrate (%)
Pines:
P. edulis P. monophylla P. cembroides P. quadrifolia P. sabiniana P. strobiformis P. pinea P. sibirica P.gerardiana Pecan (Carya illinoensis)  Peanut (Arachis hypogaea)  English Walnut (Juglans regia)	14  10  19  11  30  28  34  19  14  10  26  15	62-71  23  60  37  60  52  48  51-75  51  73  39  68	18  54  14  44  9  7  7  12  23  11  24  12

Detailed Pinyon Pinenuts Nutrition  100 grams
Water  g 5.900 1 0.000
Energy  kcal 629.000 0 0.000
Energy  kj 2632.000 0 0.000
Protein  g 11.570 1 0.000
Total lipid (fat)  g 60.980 1 000
Carbohydrate, by difference  g 19.300 0 0.000
Fiber, total dietary  g 10.700 0 0.000
Ash  g 2.260 1 0.000

Minerals
Calcium, Ca  mg 8.000 2 2.165
Iron, Fe  mg 3.060 2 0.236
Magnesium, Mg  mg 234.000 2 15.199
Phosphorus, P  mg 35.000 2 20.423
Potassium, K  mg 628.000 2 67.103
Sodium, Na  mg 72.000 2 4.376
Zinc, Zn  mg 4.280 2 0.141
Copper, Cu  mg 1.035 2 0.000
Manganese, Mn  mg 4.333 0 0.000

Vitamins
Vitamin C, ascorbic acid  mg 2.000 0 0.000
Thiamin  mg 1.243 0 0.000
Riboflavin  mg 0.223 0 0.000
Niacin  mg 4.370 0 0.000
Pantothenic acid  mg 0.210 0 0.000
Vitamin B-6  mg 0.111 0 0.000
Folate  mcg 57.800 0 0.000
Vitamin B-12  mcg 0.000 0 0.000
Vitamin A, IU  IU 29.000 0 0.000
Vitamin A, RE  mcg_RE 3.000 0 0.000

Lipids
Fatty acids, saturated  g 9.377 0 0.000
16:0  g 4.416 0 0.000
18:0  g 2.011 0 0.000
Fatty acids, monounsaturated  g 22.942 0 0.000
16:1  g 0.250 0 0.000
18:1  g 21.528 0 0.000
20:1  g 1.164 0 0.000
Fatty acids, polyunsaturated  g 25.668 0 0.000
18:2  g 24.882 0 0.000
18:3  g 0.787 0 0.000
Cholesterol  mg 0.000 0 0.000

Amino acids
Tryptophan  g 0.146 0 0.000
Threonine  g 0.367 0 0.000
Isoleucine  g 0.450 0 0.000
Leucine  g 0.834 0 0.000
Lysine  g 0.434 0 0.000
Methionine  g 0.207 0 0.000
Cystine  g 0.210 0 0.000
Phenylalanine  g 0.443 0 0.000
Tyrosine  g 0.424 0 0.000
Valine  g 0.598 0 0.000
Arginine  g 2.251 0 0.000
Histidine  g 0.277 0 0.000
Alanine  g 0.605 0 0.000
Aspartic acid  g 1.054 0 0.000
Glutamic acid  g 1.969 0 0.000
Glycine  g         0.589 0 0.000
Proline  g  0.622 0 0.000
Serine  g 0.49