December 8, 2009

Health Benefits & Nutritional Value of Walnuts

Posted in Category : Foods that Heal

When it comes to the abundance of health goodnesses, walnuts unquestionably are anything but a hard nut to crack. Walnuts are scrumptious and more importantly, offer a superior source of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, a particular type of restrictive fat the body cannot fabricate. Walnuts density of omega-3 fatty acid has numerous health advantages. Medical experts believe that a one-fourth cup of walnuts supplies 91 percent of the daily value of omega-3 fatty acid. These acids are essential in their capacity to provide heart and blood vessel protection, encourage better cognition functionalities, to anti-inflammatory goodnesses facilitative in bronchial asthma, atrophic arthritis, and inflammatory conditions of the skin such as eczema and acanthosis.

Moreover, walnuts posses an antioxidant chemical compound known as ellagic acid that aids the immune system and seems to have various antitumor attributes. Making walnuts a part of one’s diet can play a significant role in enhancing your cardiovascular wellness. Walnuts are believed to be extremely useful in offering unsaturated fats; 15 percent of the fat detected in walnuts is believed to be wholesome monounsaturated fatty acids. A number of studies have revealed that enhancing the dietary consumption of walnuts has beneficial effects on high triglycerides levels and other heart disease risk factors.

One specific medical study examined the consequences of a cholesterol-altering diet with a corrected diet wherein 36 percent of the calories of fats came from walnuts. The subjects, who adapted the walnut-abundant diet, were witnessed to have reduced levels of low-density lipoprotein (the bad kind of cholesterol) and combined protein, a compound that enhances blood coagulation and, when increased, is believed to be a risk factor for coronary artery disease. Walnuts are also abundant in omega-3 essential fatty acids, and the consumption of walnuts brings about effective health benefits when it comes to cardiovascular risk factors.

Medical experts say that omega-3 fatty acids help the cardiovascular system by preventing erratic cardiac rhythms, thus making blood less likely to coagulate within the arterial blood vessels. The essential fatty acids also help in enriching the proportion of good (HDL) cholesterol to potentially detrimental (LDL) cholesterol. More importantly, the fatty acids found in walnuts also helps in reducing inflammation, which is a fundamental constituent in the activities that cause cholesterol into artery-obstructive fatty deposits inside the arterial wall; characteristic of atherosclerosis. Doctors recommend that in order to bring down the risk of heart and coronary thrombosis, it is advisable to consume a fistful of walnuts not less than 3 – 4 times a week.