They are native to South America, specifically Brazil, and were introduced by colonists to Africa and India. These regions are the largest producers of cashews today. Cashews are sold both raw or roasted and salted or unsalted.

Cashews have recently been used to make dairy alternatives, such as cashew milk, cashew-based cheese, and cashew-based cream sauces and sour cream.

Health Benefits of Cashew Nuts

1. Lower Cholesterol Levels

Many people struggle to keep their cholesterol at a healthy level because of dietary habits and genetics. Research shows that cashews help to decrease total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels, which ultimately supports a healthy heart and cardiovascular system. Since high cholesterol leads to many other serious conditions, eating a few cashews a day is a great preventative measure for long-term health.

2. Control and Manage Diabetes

Another huge benefit of cashews is how these nuts help control and manage diabetes when eaten as part of a healthy diet. There is strong evidence to suggest that the bioactive components of these nuts help manage diabetes because of how they affect glucose and insulin responses and reduce inflammation. Better yet, cashews help prevent the onset of diabetes because of their inflammation-reducing properties.

3. Prevents Various Chronic Diseases

Cashews are also rich in many of the vitamins that keep chronic diseases away, including B-complex vitamins, vitamin E, vitamin D, magnesium, zinc, and phosphorous. Cashews are also packed with fiber, protein, and iron to provide an even more well-rounded nutrient profile to fight chronic disease. Obesity is a major cause of chronic disease and cashews can help prevent obesity by helping you feel fuller longer while curbing unhealthy food cravings.

4. Maintain Bone Health

Something that many people don’t realize about cashews is that they also help to maintain good bone health. This is because cashews contain potassium, calcium, magnesium, and vitamin K – all of which support strong bones. By adding more cashews to your diet, you can help reduce your risk of breaks, sprains, and osteoporosis later in life.

5. Promotes Brain Functioning

I also love cashews because of their brain-boosting benefits that help you think clearer and feel more positive. Your brain is largely made up of fat, which means that it needs healthy fats, like the ones contained in cashews, to function well. Deficiencies in the minerals of iron, zinc, and copper can lead to anxiety and depression, but fortunately, cashews contain these mental health-boosting minerals, too.

6. Help Build Blood

Cashews offer a high amount of iron and copper. These are both important when it comes to producing red blood cells in the body. Red blood cells are very important as they are what help carry hemoglobin throughout the body. Hemoglobin is a protein that binds with oxygen. This binding helps to supply the cells located throughout the body. When you consume cashews it can improve your blood count overall.

When your blood count is higher, it can help to boost your energy levels. Oxygen levels and supported red blood cells are extremely important to your overall health. For this reason, adding some cashews to your healthy diet can help to improve your blood production overall. When you eat cashews and improve your blood levels, you are going to feel much better. This is just one of the reasons to consider adding a serving of cashews to your daily diet.

7. Cancer Prevention

One of the best ways to prevent cancerous cells from forming is to eat foods that are high in antioxidants and other compounds that can help suppress the replication of cancer cells. Cashews happen to be one of these types of foods. Cashews contain proanthocyanidins. These are compounds that belong to a class of flavonols, which help in the suppression of cancer cell replication.

When cancer cell replication begins, it often becomes quite difficult to slow down. For this reason, a shotgun approach is often used when trying to treat cancer. These approaches hurt the good cells of the body as well. Cashews can help with this. In addition, cashews contain copper, which helps to reduce the chances of a cell mutating. In addition, the copper shows promise when it comes to both preventing and managing colon cancer. If you are at risk for developing cancer, which many of us are, adding cashews to your regular diet can help.

8. Lower Blood Pressure

As mentioned, eating cashews is good for the health of your heart. One of the reasons that eating cashews is good for your heart health is because it helps to lower your blood pressure. There are two important minerals found in this seed. These are magnesium and potassium. Both magnesium and potassium help to promote the relaxation of your blood vessels.

This helps to counteract the effects that eating too much sodium has on your blood vessels. When you eat too much sodium, the levels can promote water retention. This will raise the blood volume, causing high blood pressure. In addition to being important for helping the contractility of the heart muscles through nerve conduction. Eating foods such as cashews that are high in potassium can go a long way when it comes to lowering your blood pressure and improving your heart health overall.

9. Relieves Symptoms of Migraines

Dealing with a migraine can be quite awful. This is one of the worst types of headaches that you can get and when you suffer from migraines you may find it impossible to go through your day-to-day life. Over the past few years, there have been several studies that have shown that magnesium is an important nutrient when it comes to the treatment of migraines. The reason for this is because it has ion reducing symptoms that are quite effective at reducing the frequency of attacks.

While exactly why magnesium alleviates the symptoms of migraines is not known, it appears that magnesium plays a role in helping to relieve spasms of blood vessels that are just under the scalp. This helps to make the nerves less sensitive to stimuli that are painful, such as light. Cashews contain a high amount of magnesium, so eating these seeds can impact how often you suffer from migraines.

10. Gallstones Prevention

For many years it has been thought that the development of gallstones is caused by high levels of serum cholesterol. However, recent studies have shown that this is only partly true. In fact, gallstones may be caused by lower cholesterol levels. However, most often these painful stones are caused by a high amount of circulating triglycerides. Cashews contain a high amount of monounsaturated fat. This high level of this type of fat can help to reduce the formation of gallstones significantly.

In addition, since gallstones are directly affected by cholesterol levels, eating cashews can help to even out your cholesterol, which helps to eliminate them as being a trigger point. If you have ever had a gallstone you already know how painful that they are. Preventing them from occurring is likely a top priority. Eating some cashews is a simple solution to helping you prevent gallstones from developing.

11. Weight Loss

Almost everyone could stand to lose a few pounds. Dieting can be tough, but it is often worth it in the end. Most people look at cashews and simply see that they are high in calories and then turn away from eating them. However, when you eat cashews in moderation they can actually be beneficial when it comes to losing weight. The reason for this is largely related to the fact that these seeds have a high amount of monounsaturated fats. This type of fat helps to mobilize any stored fat into free fatty acids.

Once stored fat is turned into free fatty acids, it can then be burned. When you add in the fact that cashews contain copper, which has important effects on the metabolism, you really cannot lose by eating some cashews, except for the weight loss that you will experience from making this simple dietary change.

12. Skin Health

When it comes to the health of your skin, collagen is very important. Collagen is what provides your skin with elasticity, which is important when you are trying to maintain skin that looks healthy. Vitamin C is one of the important nutrients needed in order to increase the synthesis of collagen in the body. However, another important nutrient that is needed to maintain healthy skin is copper.

As mentioned, cashews contain a good amount of copper, which is one of the reasons that they provide many of the health benefits found on this list. It is important to know that copper helps with the skin because when a person has a copper deficiency it can result in a turnover of tissue types. This can cause the skin to sag prematurely. Make sure that you eat foods that have a high amount of vitamin C when you are eating cashews if you truly want your skin to look more youthful.

13. Boost Testosterone Levels

Testosterone is a hormone found in the body that is most notable for boosting a man’s sexual drive. It plays an important role in the body and it is important to help maintain testosterone levels for your health and mood overall. There are several minerals that play important roles when it comes to the levels of testosterone in the body. One of the minerals that are important for testosterone levels that is not often discussed is selenium. This really should not be the case as selenium has been found to help boost levels of testosterone.

In several studies, it has been noted that selenium actually plays an important role when it comes to your testosterone levels. In addition, selenium can help to reduce the risk of developing testicular cancer and prostate cancer. It is also very beneficial to a man’s sexual wellness. Cashews contain this important mineral, making them good for your sex life.

14. Vision Preservation

When you think about foods that can help protect your eyes, chances are you immediately think of carrots. After all, carrots contain beta carotene, which is thought to help improve your eyesight or at the very least maintain it. Cashews do not contain vitamin A, which is one of the most important vitamins when it comes to the health of your eyes. However, cashews do contain a small amount of zeaxanthin, which is an antioxidant.

This antioxidant is thought to help prevent damage to the macula that is located within the eyes. In addition, zeaxanthin provides a UV filtering effect. This is also important when it comes to the health of your eyes. Protecting your eyes from UV rays is important as these rays can cause a lot of damage to the eyes over a period of time. Eating cashews can help to prevent this type of damage from occurring.

15. Liver Support

The liver is one of the most important organs in the body. It is responsible for processing and breaking down waste products each day. The liver typically is very good at its job. However, there are times when the liver may become stressed. This often occurs when you abuse your body and fill it with unhealthy food and drinks. Drinking alcohol can cause the liver to become quite stressed.

When the liver is stressed it is important to provide it with a bit of help. One of the best ways to do this is to provide it with more antioxidants. Cashews contain a high amount of antioxidants, which can help the liver function the way that it should. Copper, which is found in cashews helps in the production of liver enzymes. In addition, cashews also help with the production of superoxide dismutase. These are powerful molecules that can reduce the damage of free radicals found in the body.

16. Improve Fertility

There are many couples who struggle with infertility. In some cases, these issues can be resolved quite easily or even naturally. Of course, there are some extreme cases where medical intervention becomes necessary. However, improving your diet is one of the best and easiest ways to increase your chances of becoming pregnant. Eating foods that are nutritionally dense can improve your odds of getting pregnant. Trace minerals such as selenium and zinc, both of which are found in cashews, can help provide support for fertility.

These minerals help to boost testosterone levels, which is important for men who are trying to impregnate their spouse or significant other. In addition, zinc and selenium also help to increase sperm counts and can improve the overall quality of the sperm. If you are struggling to get pregnant, try adding a few cashews to your otherwise healthy diet as this a good way to improve your odds.

Ref; https://simplyhealth.io/13-unexpected-benefits-of-cashews/

Ref: https://navitasorganics.com/blogs/navitaslife/all-the-amazing-benefits-of-cashews-you-never-knew-about

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The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. WINDHU KITCHEN is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of WINDHU KITCHEN does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.