Nuts contain many nutrients that are beneficial for your body and brain and your general health. Although they are high in fats and calories, they contain more beneficial monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. These fat effects of Nuts are known to offer several benefits for your health in general. Regular consumption of nuts will help you relax your blood vessels and also improve your cholesterol levels. These two can help your heart become stronger while working correctly. These benefits also mean that you will be leaving healthy as well. In other words, it translates to giving you a better brain.
It has been confirmed by different studies that the effects of Nuts help to improved cognitive function. This is most popular in animals and in older subjects. Walnuts, according to statistics, are the best for the body and the brain. They are probably the most-studied nuts for the health of the brain. This is because they are high in alpha-linolenic acid, which is a type of omega-3 fatty acid. According to a study published in 2017 in Trends in Food Science and Technology, the consumption of omega-3 is linked with cognitive health with substantial evidence.
A recent study on human-focused explicitly on the effects of walnuts on human brain health shows that those participants who added 30 to 60 walnuts to their daily diets had higher cognitive test scores than those who did not eat walnuts at the end of the trial. The 30 to 60 walnuts comprised up to 15 percent of their calories. In addition to their higher cognitive test scores, those participants have improved cholesterol numbers and blood pressure as well as weight-control benefits. For more confirmation, you can check the Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience in 2017.
Please note that the daily amount of walnuts the participants consumed for the study is much more than the recommended serving size, which is 1 ounce (about 14 walnut halves). From a single ounce of walnuts, you will get 19 grams of fat (this is mostly unsaturated fat), 186 calories, and 4 grams of protein. In addition to this, you will get up to 161 percent of the daily recommended intake for omega-3 fatty acids.
A study which is released in the FASEB Journal in 2017 laid out the flavonoid antioxidants that is present in different types of nuts. These flavonoid antioxidants are also issued according to their relationship to brain health including empathy, memory, recall, and meditation. With the use of a type of brain-wave imaging that is known as Power Spectral Density, scientists were able to connect three main types of nuts in relation to body and brain health. These nuts include walnuts, pecans, and cashews.
Just like in the case of walnuts, it is recommended that people should eat pecans and cashews in moderation. Just an ounce of pecans and cashews provides 196 and 163 calories and 20 and 13 grams of fat (which are primarily unsaturated), respectively. While cashew offers you 4 grams of protein in an ounce, pecans offer 3 grams. This shows that it is better to eat them in moderation while taking the recommended daily intake.
Nuts are known to be a convenient, portable snack without any addition. This is apart from other unhealthy additives that are added to them like salt and sugar which adds sodium and calories. If you like to include nuts in your diet for a healthy body and brain health, you need to add raw or dry roasted nuts.
You can eat walnuts after boiling or roasting or chop them and add to your morning yogurt. You can also toss a serving of walnut into your spinach salad while adding sliced strawberries. For pecans, crush them and add as an alternative coating for baked or broiled fish. For cashews, blend them with a dash of salt in a food processor or a high-speed blender until thick and creamy. You can use it as you would use peanut butter. Store in the refrigerator and keep using for several months.
If you are able to do the above and continue eating these nuts as processed or roasted, you will get the full benefits for your body and brain. Nuts are very good for full-body development and brain health.
A new study by researchers at Loma Linda University Health has found that eating nuts on a regular basis strengthens brainwave frequencies associated with cognition, healing, learning, memory, and other key brain functions. An abstract of the study -- which was presented in the nutrition section of the Experimental Biology 2017 meetings in San Diego, California, and published in the FASEB Journal.
In the study titled "Nuts and brain: Effects of eating nuts on changing electroencephalograph brainwaves," researchers found that some nuts stimulated some brain frequencies more than others. Pistachios, for instance, produced the greatest gamma wave response, which is critical for enhancing cognitive processing, information retention, learning, perception, and rapid eye movement during sleep. Peanuts, which are actually legumes, but were still part of the study, produced the highest delta response, which is associated with healthy immunity, natural healing, and deep sleep.
The study's principal investigator, Lee Berk, DrPH, MPH, associate dean for research at the LLU School of Allied Health Professions, said that while researchers found variances between the six nut varieties tested, all of them were high in beneficial antioxidants, with walnuts containing the highest antioxidant concentrations of all.
Prior studies have demonstrated that nuts benefit the body in several significant ways: protecting the heart, fighting cancer, reducing inflammation and slowing the aging process. But Berk said he believes too little research has focused on how they affect the brain.
"This study provides significant beneficial findings by demonstrating that nuts are as good for your brain as they are for the rest of your body," Berk said, adding that he expects future studies will reveal that they make other contributions to the brain and nervous system as well.
Berk -- who is best known for four decades of research into the health benefits of happiness and laughter, as well as a cluster of recent studies on the antioxidants in dark chocolate -- assembled a team of 13 researchers to explore the effects of regular nut consumption on brainwave activity.
The team developed a pilot study using consenting subjects who consumed almonds, cashews, peanuts, pecans, pistachios, and walnuts. Electroencephalograms (EEG) were taken to measure the strength of brainwave signals. EEG wave band activity was then recorded from nine regions of the scalp associated with cerebral cortical function.
Materials provided by Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Lee Berk, Everett Lohman, Gurinder Bains, Kristin Bruhjell, Jessica Bradburn, Nikita Vijayan, Sayali More, Krisha Patel, Sayali Dhuri, Siddarth Mourya, Gyuhyun Park, Ankita Gujarat, and Shruti Nikam. Nuts and Brain Health: Nuts Increase EEG Power Spectral Density (μV&[sup2]) for Delta Frequency (1–3Hz) and Gamma Frequency (31–40 Hz) Associated with Deep Meditation, Empathy, Healing, as well as Neural Synchronization, Enhanced Cogn. FASEB, 2017
Mayo Clinic - Nuts and your heart: Eating nuts for heart health
Health Line - 8 Health Benefits of Nuts
Live Strong - What Are the Health Benefits of Mixed Nuts?
Health Line - 7 Ways Hazelnuts Benefit Your Health
Medical News Today - What are the health benefits of hazelnuts?
Healthline - 9 Evidence-Based Health Benefits of Almonds