The Food-as-Medicine trend has put the spotlight on this nutritious, sustainable, wild-harvested tree nut.

March 2022

If you have a medical condition, avoid certain ingredients, or suffer from an allergy, you probably spend a lot more time reading food labels to find products that fit your diet and support your health. That makes you part of a large and growing community. In fact, more than 48 million households in the United States include someone living with a disease managed through diet. The top categories are overweight/obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, according to a report from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation and Nielsen. These households represent 60% of Americans and they spend about $268 billion in annual grocery sales.

This is all part of a growing “food as medicine” trend—the essential role of food in supporting good health. In fact, grocery chains have begun to support health well beyond the pharmacy. Food has become the front-line in disease prevention and optimizing good health. A growing number of grocers now provide resources and programs that help customers develop and maintain a healthy eating lifestyle.

Some 48% of all shoppers say their primary grocery store helps them stay healthy, according to the Academy study.  And about a quarter of U.S. adults are trying to manage a health or medical condition by making healthy food and beverage choices, according to data from the NPD Group.

Since heart disease is the number one cause of death in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control, it ranks high as a target for food as medicine. And among the top foods that support heart health are Black Walnuts, a wild-harvested, natural tree nut, indigenous to the US. Long recognized for their flavor and versatility throughout the south-central US, Black Walnuts are becoming an exciting alternative to more common, cultivated tree nuts such as almonds and walnuts from California. Because Black Walnuts are harvested in the wild, they don’t require resource-intensive cultivation.

With the highest protein of any tree nut, Black Walnuts are also low in saturated fat, high in unsaturated fat, contain vitamin A, iron, minerals and fiber.  Black Walnuts are a highly nutritious, cholesterol- and sugar-free superfood.  And they come in a variety of forms—pieces, powder, and oil. They also add tremendous taste appeal to a wide variety of recipes, like salads and cooked vegetables, yogurt, and oatmeal, or as an ingredient nut in fish or chicken recipes. Black Walnuts bring a variety of added benefits and flavor to health-driven recipes.

An increasing number of these recipes are becoming plant-based. Overall, the top 5 diets ranked by NielsenIQ are: Mediterranean, DASH, Flexitarian, MIND, TLC, Mayo Clinic, WW (formerly Weight Watchers), and Volumetrics.  Each is centered around plant-based foods like fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. Black Walnuts provide a healthy, flavorful boost to all of these plant-based diets.

According to a recent report in Food Manufacturing, “Plant-based diets have increased 300% for Americans in the last 15 years, and global retail sales of plant-based food alternatives may reach $162 billion by 2030 — up from $29.4 billion in 2020. If so, the projected plant-based food market would make up 7.7% of the global protein market.”

People have become increasingly aware of how their food and beverage choices can help promote good health, and, in some cases, reverse certain medical conditions, reports NPD Group. Hammons Black Walnuts are a key part of this modern trend. In fact, Black Walnuts have been used to promote good health for generations. Prior to European settlement, Native Americans used Black Walnuts for food and the husks for medicine and dyes.

Please contact us for more insight and information on this important, heart-healthy superfood and why its popularity is growing.