A treasure food for health
THE BEST OF ALL THE NUTS IN TERMS OF NUTRITION
Among all the different nuts, walnuts are by far the richest in polyunsaturated lipids and in omega-3 fatty acids, which have been linked to various health benefits.
Walnuts are also the richest in antioxidant compounds.
Mishra N. Study on antioxidant activity of common dry fruits.
Food and Chemical Toxicology. 2010, 48, 3316.
Banel D. Effects of walnut consumption on blood lipids and other cardiovascular risk factors: a meta-analysis and systematic review.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2009, 90,56.
For millennia walnuts have been a precious food due to their high nutritional value.
Their kernel, an energy-dense, high-calorie food is particularly rich in unsaturated fatty acids, digestible proteins and dietary fibers.
Walnuts have an excellent lipid composition: no cholesterol, saturated fats and richness in polyunsaturated fats.
They are particularly rich in alpha-linoleic acid (ALA), an important omega-3 fatty acids and they are the only nuts to do so. 30 grams of walnut bring the 2.5 grams of ALA recommended per day in a healthy diet.
Finally, walnuts have the best ratio between the omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acid concentration.
A natural “medecine“ that renders healthier
10 PROVEN HEALTH BENEFITS
Supplementing your diet with 5 walnuts per day helps with:
Prevention of cardiovascular diseases
Reduction of cardiovascular mortality
15% reduction of cardiovascular diseases: hypertension, angina, dyslipemias, heart attack, stroke.
23% reduction of mortality related to those diseases.
Several benefits mechanisms: lowering of LDL cholesterol, lowering of blood pressure, richness in fatty omegas 3 and 6 fatty acids that protect vascular endothelias, decrease of the oxidative stress damaging the vessels.
Higher life expectancy in healthy elderly adults
It has been demonstrated recently that healthy elderly adults eat ing walnuts regularly present 13% less total mortality, 25% less cardiovascular mortality and gain 1.4 years of life expectancy.
The cardio-metabolic positive effect of walnuts is mainly due to its richness in alpha-linoleic acid, an omega 3 fatty acid.
Support of good bowel function
Walnut have several positive effects on the bowel: reduction of constipation, prevention of gallbladder stones, colic cancers and inflammatory diseases.
The richness in fibers of the walnut allows good gastrointestinal transit.
In addition the favorable impact on the intestine microbiota leads to anti-inflammatory effects.
Help in weight control
Despite its richness in lipids, eating walnuts every day helps keep in shape and can assist weight control diets.
Walnut has a natural appetite suppressant effect and is very rich in fibers.
Protection of the brain
Walnuts have a positive impact on the brain: improving memory and cognitive performance, reduction of anxiety, dementia prevention.
Walnuts contain several neuroprotector agents like vitamins E and B9, melatonin, antioxidative polyphenols, etc. that reduce inflammation and prevent neuron oxidative damage.
Anti-ageing
Besides prevention of diseases, regular walnut consumption contributes to well-being and good sleep.
Its oil is widely used in skin and hair cosmetics.
Walnuts contains numerous antioxidative substances that prevent cellular damage by free radicals: Vitamin E, Ellagic acid and Polyphenols.
Their anti-ageing effect may be only visible on the skin but in fact they benefit all the body.
The anti-inflammatory effects of the omega 3 fatty acids also help in maintaining proper cell physiology.
Prevention of diseases and infections
Diets enriched with walnuts reduce the risk of infections and prevent some inflammatory diseases like arthritis.
Walnuts are rich in some microelements that stimulate immunological defenses like selenium, zinc and magnesium.
They contain high concentration of iron and magnesium which are powerful fatigue killers.
The essential amino acid L-arginine and the fatty acid alpha-linoleic acid are strong inflammation regulators.
Help controlling type II diabetes
Walnut supplementation helps in regulating glycemia in diabetes type II.
This is achieved by regulation of insulin secretion, correction of blood lipids and weight loss.
Cancer prevention and treatment
It is thought that walnut consumption could reduce human breast cancer’s aggressiveness. In animals, similar trends have been demonstrated in mice for breast, prostatic, colic and kidney cancers.
The benefit against cancer seems to be related to an altered expression of genes for cancer growth and survival induced by walnut components.
Improvement of male fertility
A walnut-enriched diet improves sperm mobility and morphology in humans and mice.
It is the richness of polyunsaturated fats contained in walnuts that may protect the sperm cell against damage by reducing lipid peroxidation.
