Nuts For Your...Nuts?

Trey Smith

A new study has found that men who eat a healthy serving of walnuts every day will improve their sperm quality and boost fertility. The chemical in the walnut, omega-3, is also common in many other tree nuts. The researchers from the UCLA School of Nursing believe it is the omega-3 that provides the fertility boost. A previous study found that one in six couples is infertile, and that 40 percent of these cases were due to a male factor. Fortunately, walnuts can be found at many local supermarkets and convenient stores, as well as on the branches of the many walnut trees throughout the world, and most likely cost less than going to a fertility clinic or fertility medication.
~ from Trouble Having Kids? Eat Some Walnuts by Daniel A. Gabel ~

There was a time in my life when I took studies such as this one ultra seriously. I might have rushed to my local store to load up on walnuts. I might have eaten them until I completely clogged up my intestinal track!

While I am certainly not disparaging the results of this study, life is a complex organism. There are no magic pills or potions. There is no food or substance that cures all ills. For good health, a person should eat a well-rounded diet and engage in moderate exercise. That's not rocket science!

The problem with studies of this nature is that they examine a food or substance in relation to a specific question. While eating walnuts may aid some men in fertility -- a good thing, if you want children -- eating A LOT OF THEM consistently will increase your intake of fat, particularly saturated fat, which for most people is NOT a good thing at all.

In other words, you could eat tons of walnuts and father three dozen children in a decade's time and yet die of a heart attack (clogged arteries) at age 35!