10 Health benefits of Walnut.

Walnuts belong to the tree nut family, along with Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, and pistachios. Each has its own unique nutritional profile. Below are some health benefits of adding walnut to your diet.

Health benefits of eating walnut

1. Reduces the Risk Of Cancer

Walnuts may help reduce the risk of prostate and breast cancer. In one study, mice that ate the human equivalent of 2.4 ounces of whole walnuts for 18 weeks had significantly smaller and slower-growing prostate tumors compared to the control group that consumed the same amount of fat but from other sources. According to another study on mice, the human equivalent of just two handfuls of walnuts a day cut breast cancer risk in half, and slowed tumor growth by 50 percent as well.


2. Improves Your Heart Health
Walnuts contain the amino acid l-arginine, which is of great benefit to people with heart disease, or persons with increased risk of  heart disease due to multiple cardiac risk factors. It also contain the plant-based omega-3 fat alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which is anti-inflammatory and may prevent the formation of pathological blood clots. people who eat a diet high in ALA are less likely to have a fatal heart attack and have a nearly 50 percent lower risk of sudden cardiac death.

Eating just one ounce of walnuts a day may decrease cardiovascular risk, and among those at high cardiovascular risk, increased frequency of nut consumption significantly lowers the risk of death. Eating four daily significantly raise blood levels of heart-healthy ALA, and walnut consumption supports healthful cholesterol levels.

However, if you struggle with herpes, you may want to avoid or limit walnuts, as high levels of arginine can deplete the amino acid lysine, which can trigger herpes recurrences.

3. Contains Several Rare And Powerful Antioxidants
Walnuts contain several unique and powerful antioxidants. These Antioxidants are crucial to your health, as they are believed to help control how fast you age by combating free radicals, which are at the heart of age-related deterioration. Sadly, these antioxidants are only available in few commonly eaten foods. This includes the quinone juglone, the tannin tellimagrandin, and the flavonol morin. Walnut contains walnut polyphenols had the best efficacy among the nuts tested and also the highest lipoprotein-bound antioxidant activity.

4. Helpful For Weight Control
Adding healthful amounts of nuts such as walnuts to your diet can help you to maintain your ideal weight over time. In one review of 31 trials, those whose diets included extra nuts or nuts substituted for other foods lost about 1.4 extra pounds and half an inch from their waists.

5. It Improves Reproductive Health In Men
Walnuts has great on male fertility. Among men who consume a Western-style diet, adding 75 grams (a bit over one-half cup) of walnuts daily significantly improved sperm quality, including vitality, motility, and morphology.

 6. Improves Brain Health
Walnuts contain a number of neuroprotective compounds, including vitamin E, folate, melatonin, omega-3 fats, and antioxidants. walnut consumption may support brain health, including increasing inferential reasoning in young adults. Consuming high-antioxidant foods like walnuts "can decrease the enhanced vulnerability to oxidative stress that occurs in aging," "increase health span," and also "enhance cognitive and motor function in aging."

7. 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.

8. Great For Pregnant Women
Mothers-to-be who eat a diet rich in fatty acids such as those found in walnuts can reduce the baby’s chances of developing food allergies, researchers say. The research found that if a mother’s diet contains a certain group of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), the baby”s gut develops differently. The PUFAs are thought to improve how gut immune cells respond to bacteria and foreign substances, making the baby less likely to suffer from allergies. 

9. Makes Your Skin Glow
Walnuts are rich in B-vitamins and antioxidants which prevents your skin from free radical damage and prevents wrinkles and signs of ageing. So if you want glowing skin long into your middle-age, eat walnuts.

10. Great For Your Hair
Walnut is a good ‘hair food’ too. This is because walnut contains biotin (vitamin B7) that helps strengthen hair, reduce hair fall and improve hair growth to certain extent. 


Other Benefits Includes

·         Helps you sleep

·         Can keep dementia at bay

·         Helps you live longer

·         Great for pregnant women

·         Can fight stress

Should You Eat the Skin of Walnut?

The outermost layer of a shelled walnut has a bitter flavor, but resist the urge to remove it. up to 90 percent of the antioxidants in walnuts are found in the skin, making it one of the healthiest parts to consume.

 You can  improve the quality of walnuts by soaking them in water overnight, which will tend to lower some of the enzyme inhibitors and phytic acid. After soaking, you can dehydrate them at low temperature of around 105 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit until they are crispy again, as they are far more palatable when they are crunchy.


source: http://articles.mercola.com