"NUTS ARE ESSENTIALLY THE SEEDS OF NUT TREES – APART FROM PEANUTS, WHICH ARE RELATED TO PEAS, NOT NUTS.

WHEN YOU SOAK SEEDS, INCLUDING NUTS, IN WATER, TWO PHENOMENA OCCUR: LEACHING OF PROTEASE INHIBITORS [MOLECULES THAT INHIBIT DIGESTION] INTO THE WATER AND ACTIVATING OF THE GERMINATION PROCESS, SO THE AMOUNT OF STARCH AND FIBRE REDUCES, WHILE THE PROTEIN AND VITAMIN CONTENT RAISE.

THIS IS WHY GERMINATING SEEDS AND NUTS ARE EASIER TO DIGEST THAN DRY, RAW NUTS. HOWEVER, MOST NUTS BOUGHT AT BRITISH SUPERMARKETS HAVE BEEN BLANCHED [QUICKLY COOKED IN BOILING WATER] OR ROASTED, WHICH ALSO INACTIVATES THE PROTEASE INHIBITORS. ROASTED NUTS ARE NOT ALIVE ANY MORE, SO THEY WILL NOT ACTIVATE."

DR. CAROLINE ORFILA, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF NUTRITION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS