WHAT CAN WALNUT DO FOR YOU?

Oftentimes, the simplest foods are best for your health, and this is certainly the case for nuts, walnut contains protein, healthy fats, fibre, plant sterols, antioxidants, and many vitamins and minerals.

Among nuts, the case may be made that walnuts are king, as research shows they may boost your health in a number of ways.

One-quarter cup of walnuts, for instance, provides more than 100 percent of the daily recommended value of plant-based omega-3 fats, along with high amounts of copper, manganese, molybdenum, and biotin. Some of the most exciting research about walnuts includes:

Infertility

A paper published in Biology of Reproduction's Papers-in-Press reveals that eating 75 grams of walnuts a day improves the vitality, motility, and morphology of sperm in healthy men aged 21 to 35. 

Approximately 70 million couples experience subfertility or infertility worldwide, with 30 to 50 percent of these cases attributable to the male partner. Some studies have suggested that human semen quality has declined in industrialized nations, possibly due to pollution, poor lifestyle habits, and/or an increasingly Western-style diet.

Cardiovascular Disease

Consumption of whole walnuts or their extracted oil can reduce cardiovascular risk through a mechanism other than simply lowering cholesterol.

Prostate Cancer

Walnut consumption slows the growth of prostate cancer in mice and has beneficial effects on multiple genes related to the control of tumour growth and metabolism.

Improve Reaction to Stress

A diet rich in walnuts and walnut oil may prepare the body to deal better with stress, according to a team of Penn State researchers who looked at how these foods, which contain polyunsaturated fats, influence blood pressure at rest and under stress.

Antioxidants

Walnuts have a combination of more healthful antioxidants and higher quality antioxidants than any other nut. A handful of walnuts contain almost twice as much antioxidant as an equivalent amount of any other commonly consumed nut. But unfortunately, people don't eat a lot of them.

Colon Cancer

Eating walnuts may change gut bacteria in a way that suppresses colon cancer, researchers report. A team of researchers found that mice that ate 7-10.5 percent of their total calories as walnuts developed fewer colon cancers. The effect was most pronounced in male mice, which had 2.3 times fewer tumors when fed walnuts as part of a diet similar to the typical American's.

Breast Cancer

The risk of breast cancer dropped significantly in mice when their regular diet included a modest amount of walnut.

Brain Health

Walnuts contain a number of neuroprotective compounds, including vitamin E, folate, melatonin, omega-3 fats, and antioxidants. Research shows walnut consumption may support brain health, including increasing inferential reasoning in young adults.

Diabetes

The beneficial dietary fat in walnuts has been shown to improve metabolic parameters in people with type 2 diabetes. Overweight adults with type 2 diabetes who ate one-quarter cup of walnuts daily had significant reductions in fasting insulin levels compared to those who did not, and the benefit was achieved in the first three months.