Nutritional quality and protein value of exotic almonds and nut from the Brazilian Savanna compared to peanut

Abstract The aim of this study was to determine the nutritional quality and protein value of the baru almond, pequi almond, and cerrado cashew nut compared to the peanut. We determined the proximate chemical composition, mineral content, and amino acid profile. A biological assay was carried out to assess the protein value, by net protein ratio (NPR), relative net protein ratio (RNPR), and protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) indexes. We found that the exotic almonds and the nut are rich in proteins (22.7–29.9 g/100 g), lipids (41.9–50.0 g/100 g), fibres (baru and pequi almonds, around 10.0 g/100 g), iron and zinc (4.3–7.4 mg/100 g). Baru almond's protein did not show deficiency in essential amino acids and lysine was the first limiting amino acid in the proteins of the pequi almond and cerrado cashew nut. The baru almond showed a RNPR of 86%, similar to that of the cerrado cashew nut (78%), but higher than that of the peanut (72%) and of the pequi almond (54%). The PDCAAS value of the baru almond (91%) was the highest and cerrado cashew nut and peanut presented similar values of this index (82%), which were higher than that of the pequi almond (55%). The baru almond has the highest protein quality, but the cerrado cashew nut and peanut are sources of good quality protein, too. We recommend the inclusion of these exotic foods in healthy diets and in food industry, and the baru almond and cerrado cashew nut as sources of complementary protein.