U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
                    Here's how you know **Official websites use .gov**
                            
                            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
 **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                            
                            A **lock** (                            
                              A locked padlock                                                      
                            
                            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Menu Agricultural Research Service
						
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 close



Research
                Research Home
                            National Programs
                            Research Projects
                            Scientific Manuscripts
                            International Engagement
                            Scientific Software/Models
                            Databases and Datasets
                            Office of Scientific Quality Review
            Media
                News & Features
                            Multimedia
                            Briefing Room
                            Down on the Farm
                            Press Room
                            Science in Your Shopping Cart
                            Scientific Discoveries
                            Tellus
                            Under the Microscope
            About ARS
                About ARS Home
                            Staff Directory
                            Labs and Research Centers (Map)
                            Headquarter Offices
                            Organizational Chart
                            Employee Services (REE Employees Only)
                            Office of Outreach, Diversity, and Equal Opportunity
            Work With Us
                Work With Us Home
                            ARS Vacancies at USAJOBS
                            Careers at ARS Information
                            Scientific Collaborations
                            Extramural Agreements
                            1890 Faculty Research Sabbatical ProgramSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home News & Events News Articles Research News 2013





- ARS News & Events
- AgResearch Magazine
- Image Gallery
- News
- Search News & Events
- Pesticide Drift May Endanger Pollinators
- ARS Seeks a Fire Ant Fix
- Scientific Discoveries 2024
- ARS Featured Photos
- Down on the Farm
- Facebook Live Events
- Food and Nutrition Research Briefs
- News Archive
- Science in Your Shopping Cart
- Scientific Discoveries
- Social Media
- Under the Microscope
- AgResearch magazine
- ARS at Work
- ARS Memorial Lectures
- ARS Science Hall of Fame
- Citrus Disease (Huanglongbing)
- Contact Office of Communications
- Plant Hardiness Zone Map
- Mobile Apps
- Public Affairs Contacts
- Publications and Other Resources
- USDA Blog
- Videos

Archived Page
 This page has been archived and is being provided for reference purposes only. The page is no longer being updated, and therefore, links on the page may be invalid.
 **Read the magazine story to find out more.**ARS scientists have shown that some tree nuts such as pistachios actually have fewer calories than previously thought by improving the method used for estimating calories. Click the image for more information about it.For further reading
Monitoring the population's food and supplement intakes
Snacking associated with increased calories, decreased nutrients
Less is more when restraining calories boosts immunity ARS Scientists Develop Improved Method to Estimate Calories Rosalie Marion Bliss  U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists have improved the method for estimating calories in tree nuts, showing that there are fewer calories in pistachios and almonds than previously thought. The modified method should also work well for other foods, according to the scientists with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), USDA's chief intramural scientific research agency. Chewing begins the digestive process of liberating nutrients from food. This process is necessary before nutrients are considered "bioaccessible." In theory, the fat within some hard foods is not completely absorbed because it's difficult to digest the food's cell walls, which contain the fat. Physiologists David Baer and Janet Novotny at the ARS Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, Md., fed 16 healthy adults pistachios at three different levels: none, 1.5 ounces per day, and three ounces per day, along with a background, or "base," nut-free diet. The volunteers ate each pistachio level for 18 days. Researchers collected and analyzed urine and stool samples from all feeding periods. This analysis consisted of measuring calories in the foods that were fed to volunteers (energy in) and measuring the same foods' excreted remains (energy out). Novotny, who is also a mathematician, wrote a series of algebraic equations that were used to evaluate data gathered from the biological samples. This analysis enabled the team to measure the calories specifically supplied by the target food—the pistachios—even though the nuts were consumed along with the base diet. The study suggests that the caloric value of pistachios has likely been overestimated by about 5 percent, because the fat from the nuts wasn't completely absorbed by the intestinal tract. The study, published in the British Journal of Nutrition in 2011, was supported by USDA and Paramount Farms, Inc. in Los Angeles, Calif. Read more about the researchers' similar human clinical trial, in which they used the modified method to compute the number of calories in almonds, in the September 2013 issue of *Agricultural Research* magazine.


Return to top


Research
                            Media
                            About ARS
                            Work With Us


Connect with ARS Sign up


ARS Home
                            USDA.gov
                            Plain Writing
                            Policies & Links
                            Civil Rights Statements
                            FOIA
                            Accessibility Statement
                            Privacy Policy
                            Non-Discrimination Statement
                            Quality of Information
                            USA.gov
                            WhiteHouse.gov