Georgia Pecans: Healthy Eating is in the Bag
ATLANTA - Researchers are finding that nuts, such as pecans, may lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. It's not always easy to eat healthy in a hurry, but when it comes to jazzing up meals that include nuts, the solution is in the bag. Crunchy Georgia pecans in the salad bag, that is.

Now that the world's salad gardens are offered to us fresh, chopped and conveniently packaged in the supermarket produce department, it's simple to savor salads every night of the year. And those packaged salads are all the more delicious teamed with taste, texture and healthfulness of Georgia pecans.

Georgia is the leading U.S. pecan-producing state with nearly 55 million pounds of fresh pecans harvested this past fall. Researchers have found pecans to be as beneficial to your health as cooking with olive oil. Pecans are an excellent source of oleic acid, a fatty acid found in abundance in olive oil and other monounsaturated fats. These fats have a protective effect on the blood, lowering total blood cholesterol and preserving the good HDLs that help combat heart disease. And, because pecans are a natural plant food, they are cholesterol-free.

Several studies have cited pecans and other nuts believed to be helpful in fighting some cancers since they contain an abundance of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber, plus other health benefits.

Mayo Clinic Health Letter reported in the November 1998 issue that nuts are nutrient-dense -- meaning full of nutrients.

Doctors and nurses in two long-term Harvard Medical School studies recently found that those who ate the most nuts had a lower risk of heart disease, lowest heart attack death rates, disregarding any other factors including exercise, alcohol use or high blood pressure.

Pecans and other nuts contain many phytochemicals, which make them protective against cancers of the colon, stomach and rectum, according to Frank Sacks, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Loma Linda University researchers found that in spite of being a higher-fat food, nuts are unique foods eaten widely in the Mediterranean where people have enjoyed longevity and the lowest rates of heart disease in the world. People who consumed nuts at least five times a week had half the rate of heart disease as people who never ate them. Three years ago the Iowa Women's Health Study revealed that women were 60 percent less likely to have heart trouble if they ate nuts more than twice a week.

Nuts have been proven to be effective for diabetics, especially those placed on low-fat diets.

According to University of North Carolina researchers, pecans also contain vitamin E, an antioxidant vitamin that may guard against heart disease, some cancers, Parkinson's disease and cataracts.

Traditionally, diets low in fat have reduced the beneficial HDL cholesterol. But if saturated fat is replaced by unsaturated fat, such as that found in nuts, diabetics don't need to eat high amounts of carbohydrates and HDL levels don't drop, according to research by the

International Nut Council.
Buddy Leger, chairman of the Georgia Pecan Commission, says the state's pecan growers are committed to funding research to unlock more nutritional secrets of pecans.

Dr. Ray Worley, horticulturist with the University of Georgia in Tifton, has devoted the past few years to studying oleic acid in pecans. He and other researchers will hopefully someday be able to advise growers as to what varieties of Georgia pecans are most heart-smart. Right now he knows that the plumper, fuller pecans have higher oleic acid contents.

Beyond the health benefits, pecans have that unmistakable sweet-rich crunch, which is heightened when they are lightly toasted. They're at home in salads. Toasted and tossed with buttery leaf lettuce, lightly seasoned with Cajun spices and mixed with seared chicken and crunchy romaine, or candied and capping off a spectacular spinach salad, pecans are just the accessory needed to dress up this darling of the produce bin. You just begin with a bag of packaged salad greens, crown the salad with Georgia pecans and meals in a hurry never tasted so good.

According to the Produce Marketing Association (PMA), based in Newark, Del., these salads bags or packaged salads are part of the fastest growing segment of the produce industry - fruits and vegetables freshly cut, bagged and waiting for the busy consumer. These bagged salads account for a quarter of the fresh-cut market and are experiencing phenomenal growth since their inception in 1989, says the PMA. In the years from 1993-1997, salad bags quadrupled in sales - from $312 million to $1.2 billion. Projected sales by 2003 should be $4.75 billion, according to PMA.

Chuck Gilmer, editor of the Shelby Report, a supermarket trade publication based outside Atlanta, credits the growth to "the consumer time factor." Time-strapped shoppers no longer wish to wash and chop their own lettuce, just as they choose other meal solutions like marinated meat and freshly baked bread. "This is the industry's way of addressing that."

For the industry, hurdles have been packaging, which is now breathable so freshness is maintained. And new cases have been designed to house salad bags because proper air flow around these salads is critical to keep them at their peak.

For what would a terrific salad be without the convenience of packaged, crunchy lettuce... and fresh Georgia pecans? Restaurant chefs have long used pecans to add crunch, nuttiness, and a bit of contrast to what might otherwise be a bland salad. Consider the classic combination of blue cheese, pecans and chopped apples or pears tossed with spinach leaves or a baby greens mix. That same food partnership is possible at home, thanks to the ease of these salad bags with the availability and proper storage of Georgia pecans.

And you thought pecans just tasted good -- so good that pecans are one of the most frequently requested snacks. A 1993 survey of more than 400 consumers nationwide by the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Applied Economics at Griffin revealed that people choose to serve pecans because they taste great, are elegant, are convenient and because their guests like them.

"Little needs to be done in order for pecans to be served to your guests," says Wojciech Florkowski, the associate professor who conducted the university survey. "Toast them, sprinkle with a little salt if you like, but that's about it."

Buying and Storage notes
As with lettuce, pecans are perishable and can become rancid if stored improperly. While pecans are the freshest after the late fall harvest, they can be kept in the refrigerator for nine months in airtight containers, such as jars. Long-term storage in the freezer for up to two years, shelled or unshelled, should be in plastic freezer bags.