walnuts (Juglans regia) are an important food crop as they are a concentrated source of essential and non-essential nutrients. Walnuts are true tree nuts as they are the seed of the tree upon which they grow, and they are surrounded by a hard shell. Walnuts are about 65 % fat by weight but this fat is largely unsaturated and contains the essential fatty acids alpha-linolenic acid (ALA, C18:3 (n-3)) and linoleic acid (LA, C18:2 (n-6)) as well as oleic acid. Walnuts contain significant amounts of the ALA, which makes up about 8 to 14 % of the fat content. Walnuts are not associated with weight gain despite the high fat content, adding evidence to the fact that high fat foods are not the cause of weight gain. Other lipids in walnuts include free fatty acids, diacylglycerols, monoacylglycerols, sterols, sterol esters and phosphatides, but these are not present in high quantities. Walnuts contain fat soluble antioxidants such as vitamin E, which protect the delicate unsaturated oils from lipid peroxidation.
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Fatima, T., Showkat, U. and Hussain, S. Z. 2018. Nutritional and health benefits of walnuts. Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry. 7(2): 1269-1271
