A possible mechanism for enhancing the antioxidant activity by pulsed electric field on pine nut peptide Glutamine-Tryptophan-Phenylalanine-Histidine.
Zhang S, Zhang M, Xing J, Lin S.
J Food Biochem. 2019 Mar;43(3):e12714. doi: 10.1111/jfbc.12714

Immunomodulatory Activity Improvement of Pine Nut Peptides by a Pulsed Electric Field and Their Structure-Activity Relationships.
Zhang S, Liang R, Zhao Y, Zhang S, Lin S.
J Agric Food Chem. 2019 Apr 3;67(13):3796-3810. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.9b00760.

Is the Profile of Fatty Acids, Tocopherols, and Amino Acids Suitable to Differentiate Pinus armandii Suspicious to Be Responsible for the Pine Nut Syndrome from Other Pinus Species?
Matthäus B, Li P, Ma F, Zhou H, Jiang J, Özcan MM.
Chem Biodivers. 2018 Jan;15(1). doi: 10.1002/cbdv.201700323.

Pinolenic Acid in Structured Triacylglycerols Exhibits Superior Intestinal Lymphatic Absorption As Compared to Pinolenic Acid in Natural Pine Nut Oil.
Chung MY, Woo H, Kim J, Kong D, Choi HD, Choi IW, Kim IH, Noh SK, Kim BH.
J Agric Food Chem. 2017 Mar 1;65(8):1543-1549. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.6b05216.

Identification of novel peptides from 3 to 10kDa pine nut (Pinus koraiensis) meal protein, with an exploration of the relationship between their antioxidant activities and secondary structure.
Yang R, Li X, Lin S, Zhang Z, Chen F.
Food Chem. 2017 Mar 15;219:311-320. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2016.09.163.

Allergy

Correlation of negative skin-prick test results for tree nuts and successful tree nut challenges among children with peanut allergy.
Randhawa I, Morphew T, Marsteller NL.
Allergy Asthma Proc. 2018 Nov 1;39(6):456-460. doi: 10.2500/aap.2018.39.4174.

Pine nut allergy in Korean children: Clinical characteristics and diagnostic values of specific IgE against pine nuts.
Lee E, Jeong K, Lee J, Lee S.
Allergol Immunopathol (Madr). 2018 May - Jun;46(3):247-252. doi: 10.1016/j.aller.2017.09.027.

Allergic Reactions to Pine Nut: A Review.
Cabanillas B, Novak N.
J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol. 2015;25(5):329-33. Review.

Pine nuts are the seeds found in the pine cones of some varieties of pine trees.

It is a very energetic food and is used in the food industry all over the world.

In Europe, Pinus pinea grows in the Mediterranean regions and offers excellent product quality.

In China, Pinus koraiensis provides pine nuts that are smaller than European ones and less tasty.

In California, the Pinus coulteri, the Pinus sabiniana and the Pinus torreyana give an excellent product and large quantities, but are quite expensive.

In Mexico, Pinus cembroides provides medium sized pine nuts.

Pine kernels have a total fat content of about 44% and we find:

• oleic acid 47%
•  linolenic acid 44%
•  linoleic acid 22%

while saturated fats only account for 10%.

Proteins range from 16% to 45%.

The presence of flavonoids and polyphenols gives the pine nuts an antioxidant activity (1).

From the Korean pine, Pinus koraiensis, we obtain a protein that has demonstrated many beneficial activities for human health. As a functional food, it can be beneficial in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus as a new functional hypoglycemic food (2).

Pinolenic acid, which is found only in pine nuts, has a reducing effect on appetite so, concentrated, it could be used in treatments to reduce obesity (3).

Pine nut studies

References_____________________________________

(1) Seed Characteristics and Nutritional Composition of Pine Nut from Five Populations of P. cembroides from the States of Hidalgo and Chihuahua, Mexico.  Valero-Galván J, Reyna-González M, Chico-Romero PA, Martínez-Ruiz NDR, Núñez-Gastélum JA, Monroy-Sosa A, Ruiz-May E, González Fernández R.  Molecules. 2019 May 30;24(11). pii: E2057. doi: 10.3390/molecules24112057

(2) Antidiabetic effects of water-soluble Korean pine nut protein on type 2 diabetic mice.  Liu D, Regenstein JM, Diao Y, Qiu J, Zhang H, Li J, Zhao H, Wang Z.  Biomed Pharmacother. 2019 Sep;117:108989. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2019.108989

(3) Preparation of Pinolenic Acid Concentrates from Pine Nut Oil Fatty Acids by Solvent Fractionation.
Chung MY, Kim IH, Kim BH.
J Oleo Sci. 2018;67(11):1373-1379. doi: 10.5650/jos.ess18100.