Medicinal Uses for Black Walnuts

Upper and Lower Gastrointestinal Ailments

• The use of Juglans nigra (black walnut) to soothe and cure upper and lower gastrointestinal (GI) system ailments dates to Roman times. Varro (circa A.D. 116) was the first to describe the nut's benefits in ancient texts. 19th-century herbalists used black walnuts to stop bleeding, soothe sore gums and mediate pregnancy morning sickness. Contemporary nutritionists prescribe black walnuts for diarrhea and constipation. Black walnuts were used for centuries by Cherokee medicine men to expel tapeworms and other parasites.

Skin Ailments

• Traditionally, a poultice of black walnuts, roots and bark, chopped, boiled and applied externally treats over time head and body lice, boils, skin diseases, hives, dandruff, gangrene, open wounds, scrofula and eczema, according to "A Modern Herbal" author Maude Grieve, whose life's work centered on studying the medicinal properties of natural foods. Europeans annually grind 200,000 pounds of black walnut hulls to meet market demand for self-tanning cosmetics that use walnuts as an active ingredient. Strain the nuts and hull; use the water left behind as an astringent.

Cardiovascular Ailments

• Medical investigators studying the health of the residents of Perigord, France, concluded that despite a diet high in fat instances of heart attacks were low, according to Joel Brian Berry on the Dr. Christopher's Herbal Legacy website. The phenomenon couldn't be attributed to drinking red wine, as it had in other French clinical studies. Instead, researchers pointed to the popularity of chopped walnuts and walnut oil as the reason for the townspeople's low LDL, or low-density lipoprotein, cholesterol levels. The "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" added to this body of evidence in 1994 by publishing the results of a study concluding that people adding walnuts to their diet lowered LDL readings by an average of 10 percent. In 1995, the "Journal of the American Dietetic Association" followed suit, releasing its own research showing that black walnut consumption limited the amount of heart damage following a heart attack.

Vitamin Supplements

• Nutritionists consider walnuts a super food. They are packed with vitamins. Eating a handful of black walnuts daily supplies B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, folic acid plus vitamin E's alpha, beta, delta and gamma tocopherols. Walnuts are loaded with protein and fiber. They pack a mineral punch of iron, magnesium, potassium and zinc. Black walnuts are one of the few plant foods containing omega-3 fatty acids--just 3 tbsp. of them meets the daily requirement for this essential nutrient.