Comparative Analysis of Nutritional Composition of Cashew Nuts and Groundnut

Student: Adeola Eunice Paul (Project, 2025)
Department of Biochemistry
Lens Polytechnic, offa, Kwara State.

Abstract

This study presents a comparative analysis of the proximate composition of groundnut (Arachishypogaea L.) and cashew nut (Anacardium occidentale L.) to evaluate their nutritional profiles.The results indicated that cashew nut had a higher protein content (17.21%) than groundnut(15.63%), making it a more valuable protein source. Conversely, groundnut had a significantlyhigher carbohydrate content (56.48%) compared to cashew nut (53.72%), suggesting its superiorrole as an energy source. Moisture content was slightly higher in cashew nut (9.14%) than ingroundnut (8.42%), which may affect storage stability. Both nuts had comparable ash content(1.80% in cashew nut and 1.73% in groundnut), indicating similar mineral compositions. Crudefibre was slightly more abundant in cashew nut (1.54%) compared to groundnut (1.31%), whilefat/lipid content showed minimal variation (16.60% in cashew nut and 16.22% in groundnut). Thestudy concludes that both nuts provide essential nutrients beneficial for human health, withgroundnut being more suitable as an energy source and cashew nut as a protein-rich dietarycomponent. These findings support their diverse applications in food industries and nutritionalsupplementation.

Keywords
Nutritional composition Comparative analysis Legumes and nuts
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