It's currently chestnut season, and Dr. Wang Jian, director of the Nutrition Department at Xinqiao Hospital of the Third Military Medical University in Chongqing, points out that eating more chestnuts in the autumn can help prevent and treat cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Dr. Wang said that the minerals contained in chestnuts are very comprehensive, including potassium, magnesium, iron, zinc, manganese, etc., which are higher than common fruits like apples and pears.
In particular, the unsaturated fatty acids and vitamins in chestnuts are very abundant. They are a great nourishing food for preventing and treating diseases such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, arteriosclerosis, and osteoporosis, as well as for anti-aging and prolonging life.
When eating chestnuts, stewing them in soup or congee are good choices. However, because chestnuts are relatively high in calories, eating too many can easily cause constipation. Director Wang Jian suggests controlling the amount of chestnuts consumed, generally no more than 10 per day. For diabetic patients, it is better to choose methods like stewing chestnuts in soup or making congee, which is healthier than eating sugar-fried chestnuts directly. If you want to travel a bit further, you can drive yourself to the Beijing-Shenyang Expressway, and in two hours you can reach Qianxi County in Hebei — the nation's famous "hometown of chestnuts". Over 80% of the finished fresh chestnuts from Qianxi County are exported to Japan, and Japan's "Mainichi Shimbun" newspaper calls Qianxi chestnuts "the best food for Chinese chestnuts".