Since their discovery, walnuts have been regarded as a highly beneficial dry-fruit. Walnuts are added to various herbal remedies and can be quite helpful for proper digestion and weight management. Considered a great source for antioxidants and fiber, eating walnuts regularly might just help you shed some extra kilos, or even result in great skin. Amongst the most well-known benefits of walnuts is its ability to boost cognitive health. Shaped like a human brain, walnuts provide good quality omega 3 fatty acids that boost brain-power. They are loaded with vitamins and minerals, both of which are extremely essential for the regulation of blood pressure and improvement of one’s immune system. They are great for kids, young adults, men, and women. So, let’s take a look at the health benefits linked with the addition of walnuts into one’s regular diet.
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Health Benefits Of Walnuts
Walnuts can be quite beneficial for the proper functioning of one’s body. Its nutritional content, which is a mix of minerals, fibers, vitamins, and protein, contribute towards its helpful nature for one’s mental and physical health. If you are thinking about eating them daily, here is a list of benefits that’ll tell you what you can expect:
1. Strengthens Bones
Walnuts are loaded with minerals such as copper and phosphorous, both of which are quite essential when it comes to bone density. One of the basic functions of these minerals, apart from blood pressure regulation, is their ability to enhance the calcium absorption of the bone tissues. Calcium is the building block of bones and teeth, thus a higher consumption of minerals such as copper and phosphorus would lead to higher absorption of calcium, which would further result in an increase in bone density.
Also Read: Excellent Benefits Of Macadamia Nuts: For Weight Loss
2. Walnut Is Quite Heart-Friendly
Apart from minerals, walnuts are also recognized to be rich in polyunsaturated fats. They are a great source of omega 3 fatty acids, which also makes it excellent for your cardiovascular health. By reducing the amount of bad cholesterol in the body, consumption of walnut can remarkably reduce the risk of you contracting and heart disease as well.
Also Read: Best Foods For An Omega-3 Fatty Acid Diet | Top 9 Heart Friendly Foods
3. Promotes Weight Loss
Being rich in fibers and proteins, eating walnut regularly would help you shed some kilos. The fiber is the non-digestible part of the food, which means that your digestive system requires and an extra amount of work in order to digest it. By exerting an extra amount of force, the body ends up burning a few calories. This also helps in improving the body’s metabolism and can aid in weight-loss too. Apart from that, the protein content in walnuts helps in increasing the muscle mass.
Also Read: Lose Weight In 7 Days | How To Lose Weight Naturally
4. Loaded With Antioxidant
Quinone juglone, a powerful antioxidant, is present in walnuts in a sufficient amount. The chief task of antioxidants is to lower the concentration of free-radicals, of free oxygen atoms, present in the bloodstream. The free radicals tend to combine with the healthy cells, and by exerting oxidative stress over their cell walls, they get damaged. This is where antioxidants come into play. By combining with free-radicals, antioxidants are beneficial for lowering the risk of free-radical damage.
Also Read: A To Z Of Antioxidant-Rich Food | Complete List Of Food Items To Fight Free-Radicals
5. Aids In A Healthy Digestion
The dietary fiber present in walnuts is responsible for a lot of its benefits, and a healthy-digestion is the main reason among them. Fiber is a macro-nutrient that is responsible for adding up to the bulk of the stool, thus by promoting bowel movement and helping in the removal of the food that the stomach is unable to digest, this nut can prove to be quite helpful in maintaining digestive health.
6. Improves Sleep
Melatonin, a certain sleep hormone, is present in a bio-available form in walnuts. By binding the receptors in the body that helps you relax, the production of melatonin can reduce the nerve activity. Furthermore, melatonin is also a powerful antioxidant, which makes it quite an obstacle for free-radicals.
7. Enhances Mood
A low supply of omega 3 fatty acids are known to destabilize the state of one’s mental health. Omega 3 deficiency often leads to hyperactivity and irritability. Hence, as a rich source of omega 3 fatty acids, the incorporation of walnuts into your regular diet can help in maintaining mental health. Moreover, the antioxidant quality of walnuts can aid in the protection of the nerve cells from free-radical damage.
8. Walnut Improves Immunity
The antioxidant properties of walnuts help reduce the risk of free-radical damage in immune cells. The consumption of antioxidants also increases the number of vitamins and minerals in the system, both of which are exceptionally beneficial for fighting against any external pathogen, thus strengthening the immunity of the system.
9. Regulates Blood Pressure
The presence of minerals such as phosphorus and copper in walnut can be considered as a contributory nutrient for its blood regulation capabilities. Both of these minerals, upon being consumed, have a dilating effect on the blood vessels, which prevents them from contracting and makes sure that the blood pressure is regulated. Apart from regulating the blood pressure, the dilation of the blood vessels also prevents bad-cholesterol from accumulating in the blood vessels.
10. Better Skin
Vitamin E is one of the main constituents of walnut and is quite beneficial when it comes to improving the condition of your skin. Vitamin E has powerful antioxidant properties that help in the protection of skin cells from free-radicals. In addition to that, the consumption of vitamin E helps in increasing the water-retention capabilities of the skin cells, which results in a more moisturized and glowing skin.
11. Has Anti-Inflammatory Properties
Another benefit of walnut includes the presence of phytochemicals that are responsible for reducing the inflammation response of the body tissues. This further helps in soothing the pain caused in the joints due to inflammation and is often sighted as a great remedy for it.
Side-Effects Of Walnuts
The best way of adding any food item in your diet is to know about its side-effects and then adding it into your diet accordingly. Almost every other item, upon being eaten in an unorganized manner, could prove to be bad for one’s health rather than being beneficial. Here are side-effects that are linked with the unregulated consumption of walnuts:
1. Weight Gain
Though the high-dietary fiber content of walnuts might be useful for weight-loss, its incorporation into one’s diet, if done in an unregulated fashion, could prove to have an opposite effect. Fiber, which is a nutrient that requires time to get digested, can quite easily fill up your appetite. And due to its digestion time, if you load up of too much of this nutrient, you’ll end up gaining weight rather than losing it.
2. Stomach Pain
Digestive issues are one of the most common side-effects experienced by those who load up on nuts. It is known the walnuts are indeed a digestion-friendly item, but too much of it might just change everything. Some of the issues caused by its excessive consumption include bloating, stomach pain, diarrhea, and nausea.
3. Allergy
Walnut allergy is a common form of allergy that is reported throughout the world. In other words, if you are allergic to any other nut, then you are most likely allergic to walnut too, and you must avoid consuming it. Some of the symptoms of walnut allergy include difficulty to breathe, swollen throat, and appearance of rashes.
Before you go an add walnut into your regular diet, just make sure that you soak these nuts in water before consuming. These nuts are known to contain compounds known as phytates, which are completely naturally-occurring and often tend to hinder the absorption of essential nutrients. Thus, it is impossible for you to fully benefit from walnuts without washing it, and make sure that your daily walnut consumption does not exceed 7 walnuts. Your decision for making walnut a part of your lifestyle can never go wrong. All you have to do is take note of your daily consumption of walnuts so that it doesn’t disturb your balanced diet.