Summary of Adding Just a Small Handful of Walnuts to Diet Can Have Important Benefits:
This study conducted by the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington found that adding just one ounce of walnuts to the typical American diet could bring a multitude of nutritional benefits for people at all life stages. It showed that this small dietary change could significantly improve the diet quality, increase intake of important nutrients, and reduce inadequacy of other nutrients. These findings suggest that simple strategies like adding walnuts to snacks and meals can be a potential solution to improve diet quality for people of all ages.
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The Nutritional Benefits of Adding Walnuts to Your Diet
According to new modeling research, incorporating just one ounce of walnuts into the typical American diet can bring a multitude of nutritional benefits for people at all life stages.
Walnuts are a nutrient-dense food that can provide a wide range of health benefits. They are packed with essential vitamins and minerals, and they are also a good source of healthy fats, protein, and dietary fiber. Studies have shown that adding walnuts to your diet can help to improve your overall health and reduce your risk of certain diseases.
In a recent study conducted by the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, researchers found that adding just one ounce (or a handful) of walnuts to the diets of individuals who don’t typically consume nuts can significantly improve their dietary quality and increase their intake of crucial nutrients that are often lacking in the average diet.
The study used advanced statistical modeling techniques to evaluate the impact of adding one ounce of walnuts to the typical daily diet of nearly 8,000 Americans who do not currently eat nuts. The researchers then evaluated diet quality with and without the added walnuts using the 2015 Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2015).
Results At A Glance
Adding one ounce of walnuts to the typical diets of Americans resulted in the following outcomes:
- Significantly improved the diet quality for all ages and genders.
- Improvements were seen for the seafood and plant protein category (e.g., more seafood and plant protein), as well as the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fats (e.g., less saturated fat).
- Significantly improved fiber intake across all age and gender categories.
- Increased the percentage of adults above the recommended daily intake for potassium. A similar trend was observed among children and adolescents (4–18 years).
- Reduced the percentage of adults, children, and adolescents with intakes below the daily needs for magnesium and folate.
- Reductions in copper and zinc inadequacy for most age and gender groups.
Conclusion
This study clearly demonstrates that small dietary changes with nutrient-dense foods like walnuts may have significant benefits on nutrient intake and diet quality. Incorporating walnuts into snacks and meals may be an easy option for adults and children to consider as part of their diet.
Reference: “Adding Walnuts to the Usual Diet Can Improve Diet Quality in the United States: Diet Modeling Study Based on NHANES 2015–2018” by Lisa A Spence, Beate Henschel, Rui Li, Carmen D Tekwe and Krisha Thiagarajah, 4 January 2023, Nutrients.
DOI: 10.3390/nu15020258
The study was funded by the California Walnut Commission.
