Walnuts are among the healthiest foods you can add to your diet. They provide essential nutrients, and you eat them plain or in salads or baked goods. Walnuts are nutrient-dense, but high in calories and fat, so control your portions to avoid gaining unwanted weight.
Macronutrients
Each 1 oz. of black walnuts has 175 calories and 16.7 g total fat. Fat has 9 calories per gram, so walnuts have 150 calories, or about 86 percent of total calories from fat. Walnuts have less than 3 g total carbohydrates, and almost no sugar.
Healthy Fats
Walnuts provide more than 14 g of heart-healthy unsaturated fats, including 4 g monounsaturated and 10 g polyunsaturated fats, and less than 3 g saturated fats per 1 oz. You may lower cholesterol levels when you replace saturated fats with unsaturated fats, according to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Walnuts are a source of alpha-linolenic acid, an essential omega-3 fat that reduces your risk for heart disease.
Phytochemicals
One ounce of walnuts provides 1.9 g dietary fiber. Dietary fiber is a phytonutrient, or plant nutrient, that lowers your cholesterol, reduces your risk for diabetes and helps you control your weight, according to the MayoClinic.com. Nuts are sources of other phytonutrients called phystosterols, or plant sterols, and black walnuts provide 31 mg phytosterols per ounce, according to the Linus Pauling Institute Micronutrient Information Center. Phytosterols may lower your cholesterol levels, and you can also get them from fortified foods such as margarine.
Essential Minerals
Walnuts provide 57 mg magnesium, which is more than 100 percent of the daily value for this essential mineral for bone health and muscle function. A high-potassium, low-sodium diet may lower your risk for high blood pressure, and an ounce of walnuts has 148 mg potassium and 1 mg sodium. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommend limiting sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg, and selecting unsalted or low-sodium walnuts can help.
References
- MayoClinic.com: Nuts and Your Heart: Eating Nuts for Heart Health
- Linus Pauling Institute Micronutrient Information Center; Nuts; Jane Higdon; December 2005
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010; January 2010
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: Nuts and Seed Products
Member Comments