Nutritional Benefits
Nutritional Benefits
Walnuts offer a mild, slightly sweet flavour and a satisfying crunch, making them ideal for snacking or adding to recipes. They work in both sweet and savoury dishes, and in cooking or baking. Adding walnuts provides flavour, texture, and a host of essential nutrients to meals and snacks. Walnuts are the only nut to contain a significant amount of omega-3 polyunsaturates. They contain 2.5 grams of omega-3 fat per 30 g serving. Walnuts also contain protein, fibre, and essential minerals.
Walnuts fit well into the guidelines for healthy eating from Canada’s Food Guide. The Guide encourages Canadians to eat a variety of protein sources, including plant-based protein options such as nuts and seeds. The Guide also recommends choosing foods that contain mostly healthy fats instead of mostly saturated fats. Walnuts contain mostly polyunsaturated fat (14 out of 19 grams of total fat per 30 g serving).
Decades of clinical research support walnuts as part of an overall heart-healthy eating plan. The benefits likely come from a combination of good fats, fibre, potassium, magnesium, and other important nutrients in walnuts. Walnuts are naturally salt-free and sugar-free, so they align with heart-healthy Mediterranean and DASH diets. They also fit well into keto, vegetarian, and vegan eating patterns. Plus, walnuts are gluten-free and suitable for people with celiac disease.
Cool Fact!
When paired together, the healthy fats in walnuts help the body absorb the fat-soluble vitamins and antioxidants found in vegetables and fruits. You can use walnuts as crunchy croutons atop salads and soups, add them to fruit platters, and toss them in your stir-fries to get the most nutritional value from recipes.
A 30 g serving of walnuts is a powerhouse of important nutrients for optimum health, including:
- Source of omega-3 polyunsaturates (2.5g)
- 4g protein
- 2g of fibre
- 6% daily value for iron
- 11% daily value for magnesium
- 9% daily value for zinc
