It’s not easy to fool a pecan tree. And if pecan lovers will
be equally hard to
mislead, Georgia growers could be headed for a big year.

“We didn’t have any cold damage at all,” said Tom
Crocker, a horticulturist
with the University of Georgia Extension Service.

Late-winter freezes almost never hurt pecan trees. That’s
because they’re so slow to
act when the weather warms.

“The old adage is that when the pecan trees start
budding out, spring is here for
sure,” Crocker said.

That slow response to warm days serves the trees well.
“The last year we suffered
real cold damage was 1955,” he said.

So unlike the state’s peaches, which the late freezes hit
hard, Georgia pecans are off
to a strong start. “We’re looking to have a big year,”
Crocker said.

A big year for Georgia pecans is truly a big year. Trees here
produce more pecans than
in any other state — about a third of the nation’s total.

That leaves the state’s growers to tend to their trees and
hope the people who buy
their crop aren’t fooled by a few detractors.

The new food labels’ focus on fat has led some people to pan
pecans. But these nuts are
healthy.

Pecans may actually help lower your risk of heart disease,
said Holly Alley, a food,
nutrition and health specialist with the University of Georgia
Extension Service.

“It’s true that pecans are high-calorie foods,”
Alley said. “And they
get nearly all of their calories from fats. But pecans are low
in saturated fats and high
in monounsaturated fats.”

It’s the mono fat that may make pecans a good-for-your-heart
food.

“Monounsaturated fats may have a useful role in the
dietary prevention of heart
disease,” Alley said.

She cited studies in which people who ate nuts one to four
times a week had
three-fourths the heart-attack risk of people who almost never
ate them. People who ate
them five or more times a week had half the risk.

The mono fats may help reduce high blood triglycerides, a
risk factor for heart
disease.

People with diabetes often have high triglycerides, Alley
said. For them, the mono fats
in pecans can be helpful.

A one-ounce serving of pecans, she said, contains 190
calories. Of 19 grams of fat, 12
are monounsaturated. Less than two are saturated. Five are
polyunsaturated.

One cup of pecans is about 3.5 ounces. Five pounds of
unshelled pecans yield about
three pounds shelled. Each shelled pound is about 4.5 cups.

“Pecans are fairly high in dietary fiber, too: 1.8 grams
per ounce,” Alley
said. “That may be another reason people who eat them have
lower risk of heart
disease. We’re not really sure why the risk is lower.”

The best way to put pecans in your diet, she said, is to
replace foods high in other
fats.

“Pecans can be more satisfying than low-fat foods,”
she said. “And
they’re better for you than foods high in saturated
fats.”