Walnuts can improve memory, cardiovascular health and emotional level.
With the increase of age, the incidence of cognitive impairment (mainly Alzheimer's disease) increases gradually. At present, the probability of Alzheimer's disease among people over 65 years old in China is 65.5%. The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease among the elderly over 65 years old is twice that of the general population, and more than half of the elderly over 85 years old suffer from Alzheimer's disease.
Traditional health knowledge pays attention to filling shape, and walnuts that look like brains are naturally considered by many people to be good things for nourishing the brain. Is that so? Scientific research has proved that walnuts can really nourish the brain and prevent Alzheimer's disease.
As for the causes of cognitive decline, a large number of scientists believe that oxidative stress and neuroinflammation lead to oxidative damage and cell death of brain cells. Further promote the accumulation of amyloid protein in the brain, and damage memory ability, learning ability, judgment ability, language and understanding ability.
20 17 a study published in the journal of nutritional neuroscience verified the role of walnuts in promoting memory ability.
The researchers used 24 6-month-old rats, half of which were supplemented with 6% walnuts, while the other rats in the control group were fed a normal diet. Eight weeks later, the level of aspartate receptor in hippocampus of rats was detected.
The hippocampus of the brain is responsible for memory. Aspartate receptors (NMDARs) in hippocampus are involved in regulating human cognitive ability and lipid oxidation. The activation level of NMDARs is related to the vitality and plasticity of neurons.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2552 1238/
The results showed that the level of NMDARs in hippocampus of rats who ate walnuts increased significantly, and the level of lipid oxidation in vivo also decreased significantly. Oxidative stress plays an important role in many neurodegenerative diseases and aging. Melatonin, vitamins and flavonoids contained in walnuts can effectively prevent brain aging and cognitive decline caused by free radical damage, and protect people's memory.
The research on rats may only verify the effect of walnuts on improving cognitive ability in theory. A large-scale follow-up study published by Spanish researchers this year verified the effect of walnuts on people. They found 708 elderly people aged 63-79 in Barcelona, Spain and California, and asked them to eat 30-60 grams of walnuts every day. For two years, these people have been tested for cognitive ability every two months. Blood samples were collected before and after the experiment, and the pathogenic gene APOE4 of Alzheimer's disease was analyzed. Among them, 108 participants in Barcelona received brain imaging examination.
The results show that the diet added with walnuts does not have the cognitive promotion effect on all the elderly as expected. When the researchers further distinguished these subjects, they found that walnuts had a significant cognitive improvement effect on frail elderly people who were at genetic risk of cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's disease. The researchers believe that walnuts did not have the expected significant effect on healthy elderly people because the time and amount of intervention were too small.
Interestingly, another part of the data in the Spanish study confirmed the relationship between walnuts and the weight and obesity of the elderly. They found that these elderly people lost weight significantly after two years of walnut diet. Researchers believe that adding walnuts to the diet will not increase the weight of the elderly, but it has potential benefits for the cardiovascular health of the elderly.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22254047/
A large-scale study published by Harvard University School of Health and Nutrition on 20 17 analyzed the relationship between walnuts and peanuts and cardiovascular diseases. Studies have found that nut intake is inversely proportional to the incidence of cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease. There were 5.06 million subjects in this study, and the follow-up time was1980-2012-2013, and the data was updated every four years. During the follow-up period, the subjects' cardiovascular emergencies, stroke cases and coronary heart disease cases were recorded. The researchers compared the nut intake of different people and found that people who eat less nuts have a higher probability of cardiovascular disease. The conclusion is that nuts are beneficial to cardiovascular health.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5762 129/
Another study published on 20 18 systematically analyzed and summarized the experiments before 20 18, and analyzed 26 clinical experiments, including 1059 subjects. The effects of walnut on blood lipid, apolipoprotein, weight, blood pressure and cholesterol were comprehensively analyzed. The results show that adding walnuts to the diet can reduce the cholesterol concentration and blood lipid of human body, while not affecting the weight and blood pressure of human body.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2993 1 130/
Emotional problems have become more and more common diseases, and the use of antidepressants in the United States has increased by 65% in the past decade. What we eat and do every day will affect our mood. A research report published in Nutrition in 20 19 analyzed the scoring indicators of food and depression in the national health and nutrition survey database from 2004 to 20 14. * * * 26,656 participants reported their consumption of nuts such as walnuts in their lives. After excluding all possible influencing factors, it was found that the consumption of nuts, mainly walnuts, was negatively correlated with depression index. People who often eat nuts such as walnuts are more passionate, energetic and less depressed than those who don't eat nuts very much.
https://www . NCBI . NLM . NIH . gov/PMC/articles/PMC 64 13 10 1/
Walnuts can improve memory, cardiovascular health and emotional level.
Melatonin, vitamins and flavonoids contained in walnuts can effectively prevent brain aging and cognitive decline caused by free radical damage.
Pay attention to brain cognitive science, brain health and mental health. The creative team comes from universities at home and abroad such as Berkeley University, University of Pennsylvania, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Beijing Normal University and Capital Medical University.
Brain health advocated by brain without name
Positive, self-disciplined, motivated, intelligent, knowledgeable, funny and charming.