10 Proven Health Benefits of Walnuts

Walnuts are superfoods, they contain essential fats, minerals, and vitamins that your body requires for optimum functions. The most common species of walnut is the English walnut and it is the most studies type.

Walnut is a very simple food yet is it one of the best foods for your health. A quarter cup of walnuts gives you more than 100% of the daily recommended value for omega-3 fatty acids, biotin, molybdenum, manganese, and copper.

They are also dense in antioxidants and that is why they can boost your health in amazing ways. Due to their impressive medicinal properties, walnuts were regarded as foods for the gods in the Roman Empire, it was even named after the god Jupiter and that was where its scientific named was derived from – Juglans regia.

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Walnuts have a crunchy texture and a delicious taste, they are superfoods for the brain, even the appearance of walnuts looks like the human brain. They help in promoting healthy brain functions.

An ounce of walnut a day keeps the doctor away and it improves your overall health. In this post, we will be taking a look at ten health benefits of walnuts.

10 Health Benefits of Walnuts

1. Boost Brain Health

Walnuts are rich in plant-based omega-3 fatty acids and your brain requires this nutrient for optimum health and functions. They help to improve your memory and improve your focus and concentration.

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Your brain is a fatty organ, it requires essential fats to function properly and they are present in walnuts. Walnuts also contain selenium and iodine, these nutrients protect your brain and promote healthy functions of your brain.

Walnuts are used in treating memory problems and cognitive disorders like dementia and even epilepsy.

2. Increase the Levels of Good Cholesterol

Walnuts help increase the levels of High-density lipoprotein cholesterol which are termed “good cholesterol” because they are beneficial for your body and they protect your heart while they reduce the levels of bad cholesterol, LDL and VLDL cholesterol.

If you want to control the levels of cholesterol and fats in your bloodstream, then you have to increase your intake of walnuts, this will help cut your risks of chronic diseases like heart diseases.

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3. Rich in Antioxidants

Walnuts are rich in antioxidants than any other nuts you can think of. The papery skin of walnuts contains high amounts of vitamin E, polyphenols, melatonin, and other important plant compounds that will benefit your body.

The rich content of antioxidants in walnuts help your body fight free radicals, oxidative damage, and chronic diseases. This, in turn, helps to increase your lifespan and your overall health.

4. Improve Sleep

Walnuts help improve sleep and fight sleep disorders and problems like insomnia. This nut helps your body to make melatonin, this hormone help induce sleep, and it also regulates sleep.

Walnuts help fight sleeplessness by increasing the concentration of melatonin in your body. If you are suffering from insomnia, you have to include walnuts in your diet.

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5. Fight Inflammation

Chronic inflammation is the root cause of most chronic diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, type II diabetes, and heart disease. They also prevent oxidative stress and the negative effects it has on the body.

There is a good amount of polyphenols present in walnuts, this helps in fighting inflammation and oxidative stress. They also contain ellagitannins, a subgroup of polyphenols that are very beneficial to your body.

The probiotics in your gut convert ellagitannins into urolithins, this compound fights inflammation and prevent it from harming your body.

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They also contain omega-3 fatty acids, arginine, and magnesium which help decrease inflammation in your body.

6. Boost Skin Health

Walnuts are rich in vitamin E, this essential vitamin helps in protecting and maintaining your skin. It protects your skin from free radicals and from toxins that harm the skin.

Vitamin E prevents dry skin and wrinkles, it lightens dark circles around your eyes and is an excellent natural exfoliator that helps keep your skin fresh and young.

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7. Support a Healthy Gut

Your gut makes up 80% of your immune system, if your gut is rich in friendly bacteria called probiotics, you will live healthily and enjoy optimum health. A healthy gut ensures a healthy body and disease free body.

A large population of harmful bacteria in your gut causes inflammation in your body and it also weakens your immune system. It even causes disease in your gut and makes you obese while increasing your risk of chronic diseases.

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When you have a healthy population of probiotics, above that of the harmful bacteria, the probiotics will eat up the harmful microbes and defend your body from these harmful microbes and their damaging effects. One way to increase the populations of these healthy and friendly bacteria is to eat walnuts, they contain fiber that act as foods for these microbes.

8. Enhance Mood

Walnuts prevent mood disorders and mood swings because they are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, a deficiency in omega-3 fatty acids have been linked to mood problems and hyperactivity.

Include walnuts in your child’s diet to prevent deficiencies in essential fatty acids, and also to help improve their mood and fight hyperactivity.

Walnuts are even beneficial to people that are suffering from post traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), it helps relieve the symptoms of stress and depression in people going through a trauma.

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9. Boosts Male Fertility

Modern diets are nutritionally deficient in vital nutrients and they are very high in refined sugars that reduce sperm functions, quality, and motility.

Walnuts support the production of healthy sperm and boost male fertility. It improves the shape of sperm, their mobility, and vitality and it also protects sperms from the effect of oxidative damage.

If a man is at risks of infertility, he should increase his intake of walnuts and it will help him greatly.

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10. Boost Hair Health

Walnuts promote healthy growth of hair, they strengthen the follicles of your hair and remove dandruff from your scalp and make it dandruff-free.

They make your hair long and thick and prevent hair breakage by making your hair stronger.