Nature’s perfectly packaged nuts—walnuts—have the highest levels of antioxidants in the nut family and should be consumed as part of a healthy diet.
Walnuts help you fight stress, lower BP
Walnuts, the brain shaped nuts, cut down cholesterol and may also help fight stress and reduce blood pressure.
Those with high levels of bad cholesterol had lower blood pressure during stressful moments after following a diet rich in walnuts for three weeks.
Those who ate walnuts had lower blood pressure, said Professor Sheila West from the Penn State University in the US, according to the Daily Mail.
Average diastolic blood pressure – the ‘bottom number’ or the pressure in the arteries when the heart is resting – was significantly reduced for those on diets containing walnuts and walnut oil.
West added: ‘These results are in agreement with several recent studies showing that walnuts can reduce cholesterol and blood pressure.’
“Walnuts rank above peanuts, almonds, pecans, pistachios and other nuts,” said Joe Vinson, from the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, who conducted the analysis.
Vinson said it takes only around seven walnuts a day, for instance, to get the potential health benefits uncovered in previous studies.
“A handful of walnuts contains almost twice as much antioxidants as an equivalent amount of any other commonly consumed nut. This study suggests consumers should eat more walnuts as part of a healthy diet,” said Vinson.
Antioxidants in walnuts are two to 15 times as potent as vitamin E, renowned for its powerful antioxidant effects that protect the body against damaging natural chemicals involved in causing disease, according to a Scranton statement.
Vinson noted that nuts in general contain plenty of high-quality protein that can substitute for meat, vitamins and minerals, dietary fibre, and are dairy and gluten-free.
Years of research by scientists worldwide link regular consumption of small amounts of nuts or peanut butter with decreased risk of heart disease, certain kinds of cancer, gallstones, Type 2 diabetes, and other health problems.
Vinson said his work is the first to compare both the amount and quality of antioxidants found in different nuts.
He filled that knowledge gap by analysing antioxidants in nine different types of nuts—walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, macadamias, and pecans.
—IANs