Does ‘activating’ nuts affect nutrient bioavailability?

Kumari S, Gray AR, Webster K, Bailey K, Reid M, Kelvin KAH, Tey SL, Chisholm A, Brown RC · Food Chemistry · 2020 July

DOI 10.1016/j.foodchem.2020.126529

Objective

To assess the effects of various soaking regimes on the phytate and mineral concentrations of almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, and walnuts.

Conclusions

Soaking nuts did not significantly affect phytate concentrations and resulted in lower mineral concentrations, especially in chopped nuts, failing to support claims that soaking improves nutrient bioavailability.

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Insights

Soaking nuts doesn't increase the bioavailability of their nutrients, instead, it reduces the mineral concentration, particularly in chopped nuts.

The study examined the effects of different soaking regimes on the phytate and mineral concentrations in whole and chopped almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, and walnuts. Four treatments were employed: raw, soaking for 12 hours in salt solution, soaking for 4 hours in salt solution, and soaking for 12 hours in water. To analyze phytate concentrations, high-performance liquid chromatography was used and the mineral concentrations were evaluated by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. In the evaluation of the results, it was observed that the differences in phytate concentrations between treated and untreated nuts were minimal, ranging from -12% to +10%. On the other hand, the soaking process resulted in diminished mineral concentrations, notably for chopped nuts. Furthermore, there were no improvements noted in the phytate:mineral molar ratios as a result of the soaking technique. Therefore, this study effectively disproves the notion that 'activating' nuts yields a greater nutrient bioavailability.