The combination of certain foods can help digestion and give the body the nutrients needed for a good operation. However, some mixtures may have the opposite effect and are not recommended.

According to the nutritionist and first secretary of the Board of Food and Nutritional Security, Enny Antunes, "food needs to be colorful and well combined." According to the nutritionist a typical mixture of Brazilian rice and beans, it's a good combination that provides amino acids for the body to help in the performance of cells, enzymes and hormones.

The benefits of some foods

The iron, which helps in the production of red blood cells, transporting oxygen within the body, is found in cashew nuts, almonds, nuts, dried fruits, wheat, broccoli, peas, beans and dark green leaves such as spinach, parsley and dandelion.

Vitamin A, which is important for vision, maintenance and balance of the skin and mucous membranes and to protect against infectious diseases, is present in fruits and vegetables such as green and yellow cashews, oranges, broccoli, avocados, pumpkin and carrot. Vitamin C helps protect the immune system and is found in citrus fruits such as cashew, cherry, pineapple and strawberry.

Combinations that are harmful to the body

According to the nutritionist, one must pay attention to combinations of certain foods such as milk and dairy products, which should not be mixed with the iron found in meat and dark greens. The nutrients compete with each other and affect the absorption of calcium or iron. Mix cereal is not recommended, the ideal is to opt for only one type.

Carbohydrate in excess in a meal is dangerous, besides the weight gain may also cause glucose intolerance, causing predisposition to type 2 diabetes. "The excess mass in the body turns into fat," says Enny.

In addition to the care of the excess, the nutritionist suggests the consumption of citrus fruits such as pineapple, before meals that have meat to help digest.

Information is from Diario da Amazonia.

Cashew nuts and Brazil nuts are rich in selenium, a mineral that acts on the immune system and prevent diseases such as anemia, premature aging and others. Selenium deficiency causes pancreatic degeneration and a higher tendency to cancer.

A study by the University of Otago in New Zealand, shows that eating two Brazil nuts increase in 65%  the level of selenium in the blood. As for the nuts produced in the North and Northeast of Brazil are even richer, requiring only one a day to get the amount of selenium needed for the body.

According to the nutritionist and researcher at the Laboratory of Minerals of the University of Sao Paulo, Barbara Rita Cardoso, an adult should consume at least 55 micrograms per day of selenium. In a nut you can find from 200 to 400 micrograms, and 400 is the daily limit to be taken per day.

Information is from Abril and Mundo Educação.

While 100 ml of orange juice contains 60 mg of vitamin C, 100 ml of cashew juice has 200 to 250 mg. "Cashew loses only to acerola and camu camu, a fruit not yetmarketed," says agronomist and researcher at Embrapa Ceara, Antonio Calixto.

In addition to vitamin C, cashew, which is rich in carbohydrates, fiber, minerals (calcium, phosphorus and iron) and B complex, has much more to offer due to cashew nuts. "It has 30% protein of high nutritional value and is a major source of vitamin E, which has been linked to heart health and reproductive organs," says Geraldo Maia Arraes, a professor at Federal University of Ceara in the area of Fruit Technology and CNPq researcher.

Because it has so many qualities in a single fruit, cashew is cheap because it is abundant in the northeast of Brazil, where it is very consumed, either fresh, juices, jams, jellies and a variety of ways. The cashew agribusiness generates direct and indirect labor and is responsible for a planted area of around one million hectares in the northeast of Brazil.

Information is from the website Dieta e Beleza.

Fruits have many nutritional properties and are easy to digest. They present a great source of energy for athletes, because they have carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

Can be consumed in its natural state, dried or in preparations such as juices, vitamins, jams and so on. The dried fruits are those that have water withdrawn by industrial processes. Unlike the fresh ones, dried fruits have more concentration of calories, fiber, natural sugar and other ingredients.

Tree nuts such as cashew nuts, almonds, hazelnuts and others, are rich in nutrients, which also helps in sport. Provide good fats that lower cholesterol and act as antioxidants, proteins which are essential for training and muscle recovery.

Information is from the web site rg nutri.

Cashew nuts, Brazil nuts, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, have an important role in diets and can be the difference between making them give good results or not.

Besides delicious and nutritious foods, the fat and fiber from nuts gives a sense of fullness quickly, making diets enjoyable. When a person eats small portions of nuts in a day, doesn´t get very hungry and therefore eat less.

Despite the health benefits, these foods should not be eaten in large quantities. Is recommend eating a small portion a day, because when you add nuts to your diet, you are also adding calories. The ideal is to decrease calories from other foods to avoid weight gain.

Information is from the site WebMD.

Nuts are rich in nutrients, have fiber, protein, calcium, iron, potassium, zinc, selenium, vitamin E, folic acid, among others, that are good for health and help maintaining weight.

According to Vanessa Coutinho, coordinator of graduate studies in clinical and sports nutrition at the Universidade Gama Filho, in Rio de Janeiro, a Brazil nut daily supplies the amount of selenium that the body needs. The mineral helps to balance thyroid, avoiding weight changes, prevents tumors, keep the immune system stronger and protects against the action of free radicals.

The zinc present in the cashew-nut and in the Brazil nut helps to assist in the production of white blood cells. Magnesium helps control blood pressure and reduce symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. Potassium helps build muscle and monounsaturated fats present in these foods reduce levels of bad cholesterol and increase good cholesterol, HDL, which is responsible for cleaning up the arteries, keeping away heart diseases.

Although nuts are good for health, is important to moderate because it may end up as fat if eaten in excess. The ideal is to eat nuts instead of other food and not just add them to the diet.

Information is from Brazilian magazine Boa Forma.

According to the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (Mdic, in portuguese), the main export products that propelled exportation in the state in February are: Footwear, leather and cashew nut. The footwear sector is responsible for more than 30% of international exports and cashew nut by 17%.

The first two months of international sales in Ceara were 7.5% higher than the same period in 2010. In February the state totaled 104.9 million dollars in sales to foreign markets, registering the best score ever achieved for the months of February, according to information released by Mdic.

Information from Diario do Nordeste.

The northeastern region of Brazil is responsible for more than 95% of national production of cashew, and the states of Ceara, Piaui, Rio Grande do Norte and Bahia, are the main producers.

The cashew tree is a tropical plant native from Brazil and although its main production is in the northeast, it is present in almost all the national territory.

The information is from the Embrapa.

The cashew production has a great social importance in Brazil by generating many direct jobs, approximately 35 000 in the countryside, 15 000 in the industry and 250 000 indirect jobs in both areas.

To the people in the northeast the cashew has even greater importance since the jobs of the countryside occur in between harvests of traditional crops such as corn, beans and cotton, reducing the rural exodus.

The Information is from Embrapa.

The International Nut & Dried Fruit Council (INC) is a non-profit organisation formed in 1983 in Paris, whose mission is to be the international source for information on nuts and dried fruits for health, nutrition, food safety, government standards, regulations and trade quality standards. The Spain-headquartered INC represents almonds, cashews, Brazil nuts, hazel nuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, walnuts and peanuts.

Pratap Nair of Vijayalaxmi Cashew Company (VLC), one of India's largest exporters of cashew, is the Ambassador of INC for India. In an interview with FE's Rajesh Ravi, Nair talks on health benefits of cashew nuts and its global trade. Excerpts:

What is the status of the global cashew trade? Has consumption slowed down due to recession?

The global cashew trade is estimated at around 5, 13,750 tonne on Kernel basis in 2010. Due to weather problems in most growing areas raw seed production was down by 15-20% in 2010. Prices of raw cashew are very high. Although there were fears that consumption of cashew and other nuts would be hit by the global recession, but it was not so. There was reasonable growth in Europe and US, which grew by 5-8%. India , China and the Middle Eastern markets have registered double digit growth. Asia, China and West Asian markets are the new growth engines of nut consumption.

What are the misconceptions regarding nut consumption? Do people really think that consuming nuts like cashew affect their health negatively?

There are several wrong notions about nut consumption. Some people wrongly believe that nut intake is associated with weight gain or worsening diabetes control. It has also affected the growth in nut consumption. Actually, nuts are a whole food that has been consumed by humans since historical times. Nuts are energy-dense foods, rich in total fat and unsaturated fatty acids, fibre, minerals, and bioactive phytochemicals with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. In nuts, the whole is greater than the parts.

What are the benefits of nut consumption? Is it really good for health?

Nuts are among the whole foods with a more impressive body of scientific evidence supporting beneficial effects on cardiovascular and other health outcomes. Large prospective studies have consistently associated frequent nut consumption with a reduced incidence of fatal and non fatal coronary heart disease.

Incorporating all types of nuts into the diet has a consistent cholesterol lowering effect that is dose related and more pronounced in persons with higher baseline cholesterol or lower body mass index. Nut consumption decreases triglyceride levels in persons with hipertriglyceridemia. Nuts reduce the postprandial glycaemia response when consumed with high-glycaemia index carbohydrate foods in both normoglycaemic subjects and type 2 diabetic patients. The reduction in coronary heart disease associated with nut consumption depends on mechanisms other than cholesterol lowering, as nuts have beneficial effects on insulin sensitivity, oxidative and inflammatory processes, and vascular reactivity. Both epidemiological and clinical studies have shown that frequent nut intake is not associated with weight gain or worsening diabetes control. The daily inclusion of a handful of nuts in the usual diet can be of benefit for healthy individuals and those with hypercholesterolemia and type 2 diabetes.

What is your outlook on the prospects of nut demand and trade?

The main competition to nuts in the supermarket shelves comes from cheaper food items such as extruded snacks, potato chips etc. But now with the health benefit of consumption of nuts being recognized by the consumers, we see bright prospects for the growth in consumption of nuts, including cashews in the next few years, worldwide. The rapid economic growth and rise in disposable income in Asian countries has contributed to the growth in consumption of nuts.

Financial Express