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A Walnut A Day Keeps Heart Disease Away?

Seems so, if a new study by researchers at Penn State University is right. Nut Oils have long been touted as healthful, but the evidence is strong that there’s something in Walnuts that naturally helps control blood pressure. Is it time to update  ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away’?

Walnuts Whole and Shelled - © facebook via authoritynutrition.comWhole Walnuts seems to hold a charm against high blood pressure…

We all know that Nuts and Nut Oils are a key component of the Mediterranean Diet, and that the Med Diet is strongly recommended for heart health. But now, researchers have discovered that Walnuts – whole, unprocessed Walnuts – offer special charms against one of the commonest and most serious components of the heart disease complex: high blood pressure.

What they did

Researchers recruited 45 participants between the ages of 30 and 65 who were overweight or obese. Before the study began, participants were placed on a ‘run-in’ diet for two weeks.

“Putting everyone on the same diet for two weeks prior to the start of the study helped put everyone on the same starting plane,” study spokesperson Dr. Alyssa Tindall said. “The run-in diet included 12 percent of their calories from saturated fat, which mimics an average American diet. This way, when the participants started on the study diets, we knew for sure that the walnuts or other oils replaced saturated fats.”

After that two-week period, participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: one that incorporated Walnuts, one that incorporated some of the same Omega 3 fatty acids as Walnuts but no actual Walnuts, and another that incorporated another fatty acid found i n Walnuts but, again, no actual Walnuts. All participants followed their assigned diets for six weeks.

What they found

After the six-week period, researchers assessed the participants for several cardiovascular risk factors including central systolic and diastolic blood pressure, brachial pressure, cholesterol, and arterial stiffness.

The researchers found that while all treatment diets had a positive effect on cardiovascular outcomes, the diet with whole walnuts provided the greatest benefits, including lower central diastolic blood pressure. In contrast to brachial pressure — which is the pressure moving away from your heart and measured with an arm cuff in the doctor’s office — central pressure is the pressure moving toward your heart.

The takeaway

“When participants ate whole walnuts, they saw greater benefits than when they consumed a diet with a similar fatty acid profile as walnuts without eating the nut itself,” study lead Author Dr. Penny Kris-Etherton said. “So it seems like there’s a little something extra in walnuts that [is] beneficial – maybe their bioactive compounds, maybe the fiber, maybe something else – that you don’t get in the fatty acids alone.”

My take

I’ve long believed that the Med Diet’s emphasis on Nuts and Nut Oils had special merit. And I agree that any further study of Walnuts to pinpoint what part of their makeup, exactly, accounts for the beneficial effects of Whole Walnuts on heart health, as compared to Nut Oils or fatty acid extracts or supplements, would be worth the money. My family has a lot of heart disease on both sides, and I’m game to try anything that will help me beat the odds.

~ Maggie J.