Nutrition: Walnuts - You'd Be Nuts Not Too!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 15:13 | by Darryl Edwards Walnuts are my preferred nut. I eat them as a snack or add to my main meals.
They usually are a good way for me to start the day
A few key benefits of eating walnuts:
- They are nutrient rich with a wide variety of vitamins and minerals.
- Have a high level of antioxidants to fight free radicals.
- A 4:1 ratio of Omega:6 to Omega:3 EFAs (Essential Fatty Acids) - which far exceeds any other nut. this represents a more natural balance of these essential fats especially in the context of a paleo based diet.
- Studies have also shown walnut's contribute to lowering low density lipoprotein (LDL) (i.e. bad) cholesterol.
This is not a license to go crazy. A palmful or two a day is more than enough to get the benefits. Going organic will also increase the amount of nutrients availble.
Recent studies from the University of Scranton, compared different types of nuts and discovered that a handful of walnuts contained twice as many antioxidants as a handful of any other commonly eaten nut. Recently reported on the BBC health site.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12865291
More details on the benefits from this study can be found here:
http://www.thestar.com/living/article/962981--raw-walnuts-fight-free-radicals-more-than-other-nuts
