Young and stressed out? Try walnuts for happier state-of-mind, says new study

A new study by researchers at the University of New Mexico has suggested that a handful of walnuts every day can help young men tackle life's daily stress. 

Researchers say that the nutrient-dense fruit can lead to a happier state-of-mind. 

The study found a significant improvement in mood in young, healthy men who consumed walnuts every day for eight weeks.

"In the past, studies on walnuts have shown beneficial effects on many health outcomes like heart disease, diabetes and obesity," said researcher Peter Pribis, Professor at University of New Mexico in the US.

"Our study was different because we focused on cognition, and in this controlled randomised trial (CRT) we measured mood outcomes in males and females," Pribis added.

The participants of the study were 64 students between the ages of 18-25.

The participants were asked to eat three slices of banana bread every day for sixteen weeks -- eight weeks of banana bread with walnuts and eight weeks of banana bread without walnuts.

The nuts were finely ground into the dough so the two banana breads were similar in taste and appearance. While eating banana bread with walnuts the participants consumed half a cup of walnuts daily.

The mood of the students was measured at the end of each eight-week period.

"We used a validated questionnaire called Profiles of Mood States (POMS)," Pribis said.

"It is one of the most widely used and accepted mood scales in studies on cognition. The test has six mood domains: tension, depression, anger, fatigue, vigor, confusion and also provides a Total Mood Disturbance score (TMD)," Pribis explained.

(With inputs from agencies)