7 Health Benefits of Walnuts
How to include more of this nut in your meals and snacks, as well as all the ways it can benefit your body.
Walnuts offer health benefits that are supported by science and crucial nutrients in addition to their satisfying crunch. They are a fantastic source of beneficial nutrients and good fats. Additionally, they have been associated to good benefits on blood pressure, gastrointestinal and heart health, and even male fertility. Even better, these nutrient powerhouses have the ability to prevent cancer growth and maintain healthy brain function as you age.
Here are a few of the best advantages of this beneficial tree nut.
Walnuts Are Rich in Nutrients
According to the United States Department of Agriculture's publication Nutritive Value of Foods, one ounce (about a quarter cup, or 14 halves of a walnut) contains 18 grams of healthy fat, 4 grams of protein, and almost 2 grams of fiber. The same number of walnuts would also provide you with almost half of your daily manganese requirement. According to the University of Rochester Medical Center, one ounce of walnuts contains 0.97 mg of manganese (the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements advises 1.8 mg of manganese for females and 2.3 mg for males per day). You can get additional nutrients from one ounce of walnuts, such as magnesium, potassium, iron, calcium, sodium, and B vitamins.
Even more micro- and trace elements were found in walnuts, according to a 2018 study that was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. After magnesium and iron, they are followed by progressively lower concentrations of zinc, boron, molybdenum, copper, nickel, cobalt, and other elements.
The macrominerals you should be concentrating on include calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride, and sulfur, according to MedlinePlus. All four of these macrominerals are present in walnuts. They also contain some of the trace minerals, such iron, manganese, copper, zinc, and cobalt, that MedlinePlus advises you to include in your diet.
A mineral called manganese is essential for the development of collagen and the repair of wounds. It also supports strong bones. According to a 2017 paper printed in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, walnuts are also rich in polyphenols, primarily pedunculagin. An ellagitannin called pedunculagin helps to prevent the onset and progression of cancer, heart disease, and neurological illnesses by acting as an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory.
They Deliver Healthy Fats
Certain fats are better for you than others. Monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat are examples of good fats. According to MedlinePlus, one of the best foods you can eat to get that healthy polyunsaturated fat is walnuts.
An omega-3 fatty acid known as alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA, is believed to lessen inflammation. A significant source of ALA is walnuts. A 2020 study that was written about in the journal Nutrients examined the impact of walnut eating over a four-week period on the omega-3 fatty acid profile of healthy people. The omega-3 status of the patients increased following a month of regular consumption of a few ounces of walnuts, according to the research. Additionally, they saw drops in body weight and body fat as well as increases in lean body mass and body water.
According to a 2022 article in Advances in Nutrition, increasing your ALA intake is linked to a 10% decreased risk of cardiovascular disease. Additionally, according to the same source, ALA can improve the symptoms of various conditions including diabetes and lower blood pressure, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, and other lipids.
Walnuts Can Help Gut and Heart Health
Researchers believe that the bioactive substances in walnuts may be crucial in changing the intestinal environment in ways that affect the course of disease. In a six-week Penn State research of overweight persons at cardiovascular risk, the consumption of walnuts increased the good gut flora linked to health benefits, including lowered blood pressure and total cholesterol. The results were published in The Journal of Nutrition in 2020.
There is additional proof that walnuts are heart-healthy. In a 2014 article that appeared in The Journal of Nutrition, it was discussed how walnuts can lower a number of risk factors for cardiovascular disease. High levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL, or "bad") cholesterol and high blood pressure are two of these primary risk factors, and walnuts can help lower both of these. The article also outlined additional ways that walnuts can improve heart health, including by enhancing the performance of the endothelium, the lining of your heart and blood vessels, and by lowering inflammatory markers and oxidative stress, which happens when free radicals triumph over antioxidants.
They Help Reduce Blood Pressure
A 2020 study that was written about in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that eating walnuts may aid older persons who are at risk of cognitive impairment prevent such decline. Over 600 elderly people were randomly assigned to one of two diets, one of which included 15% of the calories from walnuts and the other of which did not. The cognitive performance of healthy volunteers was unaffected by the walnuts, but brain MRIs revealed that higher-risk individuals, such as heavier smokers and those with poorer baseline neuropsychological test scores, were more affected by the nuts.
And not only do those polyphenolic compounds in walnuts reduce oxidants and inflammation in brain cells, but they also can help you form new brain cells and increase signaling between brain cells, according to a 2014 study published in The Journal of Nutrition.
Walnuts can influence the brain in other ways as well. A 2020 review published in Current Pharmaceutical Design reported that walnuts have also shown promising results in improving memory. And this review also suggests that the various fats, proteins, fibers, minerals, and trace elements in nuts work synergistically, meaning that they work together to create these effects.
Walnuts Offer Cancer Protection
In a 2019 study that was published in Nutrition Research, researchers examined the consequences of breast cancer growth in cis gender females based on earlier research in animals. Two to three weeks prior to surgery, cisgender females with breast lumps were randomly allocated to consume either two ounces of walnuts per day or none at all. The samples from the initial biopsy were contrasted with those from the lumps' removal. Scientists discovered that eating walnuts changed the expression of over 450 genes in the tumors in ways that might inhibit the spread of cancer and increase survival rates.
A 2018 study that was published in Toxins found that eating walnuts regularly can have anticancer benefits and that they contain a variety of other possible antitumor chemicals. The findings are encouraging, but additional study is required.
Additionally, black walnuts may contain bioactive substances that have anticancer properties. The results of a 2020 study that was published in Molecules lend credence to the potential anticancer properties of black walnuts. The phenolic chemicals in black walnuts are thought to be responsible for these effects.
They Play a Role in Weight Regulation
Subjects in a short study who were living in a supervised clinical research facility for five days were served smoothies that either contained walnuts or didn't contain walnuts, according to a 2017 article in the journal Diabetes Obesity and Metabolism. The walnuts helped regulate appetite and lessened sensations of hunger. The effect of walnuts on satiety, according to researchers, may result from alterations to the central nervous system that impact food cues. The change may reduce the risk of obesity.
A second research confirmed same results. Both black walnuts and English walnuts were shown to be more effective at suppressing hunger than the control in a randomized controlled experiment that was published in Nutrition Research in 2019. It also demonstrated that respondents felt more satisfied after eating black walnuts as opposed to English walnuts or the control. So choose black walnuts over English walnuts as a snack if you want to sate your hunger and feel full at the same time.
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