- admin
- September 29, 2025
- No Comments
New research published in Food & Function explored whether eating walnuts every day could affect levels of melatonin —a hormone that helps regulate sleep— and improve sleep quality.
In a randomized crossover trial of 76 healthy young adults, participants ate 40 grams (a large handful) of walnuts with dinner for eight weeks and avoided nuts for another eight weeks, separated by a two-week break. The researchers measured levels of 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (a key biomarker of melatonin production), several sleep quality measures (how quickly participants fell asleep, how often they woke up at night, and the percentage of time in bed spent asleep), and daytime sleepiness.
The findings showed that eating walnuts significantly increased evening levels of the melatonin biomarker. Participants also fell asleep faster, reported better overall sleep quality, and felt less sleepy during the day after the walnut intervention. These benefits were not seen during the nut-free control phase.
With improvements observed across several measures of sleep quality, this study highlights the potential of walnuts as a sleep-promoting food among young adults.
This study was funded by the California Walnut Commission.
