The following table shows the number of pints of milk equaled by one pound each of the several nuts mentioned, together with the calory value of the nuts per pound and of the amount of milk containing an equivalent amount of protein and the amount of each kind of nuts needed to supply supplementary proteins for one day:
Pints of Milk containing as Calories Calories Amt. needed much protein Milk Nuts for one day as one pound
Acorn 2.4 780 2620 8.3 Almond 6.1 2080 3030 3.2 Beech nut 6.6 2145 3075 3.0 Butternut 8.5 2762 3165 2.4 Chestnut 3.2 1040 1876 6.4 Chinquapin 3.8 1072 1800 6.4 Filbert or Hazelnut 5.0 1625 3290 4.0 Hickory nut 4.6 1495 3345 4.8 Pecan 3.6 1170 3455 5.6 Peanut 9.2 2090 2600 2.2 Pinon 4.4 1430 3205 4.8 English walnut 5.4 1555 3300 3.7 Black walnut 8.5 2762 3105 2.4
From animal feeding experiments it has been determined that about 20 oz. of milk will furnish sufficient complete protein to supplement a vegetable diet otherwise deficient in complete proteins. This amount of milk will supply one-third to one-half the total daily protein requirement for the average person. Nuts are so rich in these precious proteins, practically identical with those of milk, that the protein found in 20 ounces of milk may be furnished by 2 ounces of peanuts, 2-1/2 ounces of butternuts, 3 ounces of almonds or beechnuts, 4 ounces of English walnuts, or filberts, 5 ounces of pinenuts (pinons) or hickory nuts, 5-1/2 ounces of pecans, 6-1/2 ounces of chestnuts or chinquapins, or half a pound of acorns.
The nut is one of the most important and interesting of all foodstuffs for the reason that it presents in concentrated form the most valuable and easily digestible of proteins. It is for this reason that the farmers of Northern Italy are able to thrive on a diet of which the chestnut is the staple. For the same reason 300,000 Pacific Coast Indians prospered for centuries on a diet consisting chiefly of acorns and pinenuts. In recent times, one of these Indians was known to be living at the age of nearly 140 years, and the farmers of the West and South before they had destroyed with axe and fire the splendid oak forests of pioneer days, depended chiefly on mast to fatten their hogs. The acorn was their chief source of protein, which is as necessary for a hog as for a college professor.