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Can Eating More Nuts Prevent Heart Disease?
 

As disclosed by the American Heart Association, there are some 50 million American have metabolic syndrome, which has 3 or more of the following conditions: abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, low levels of good cholesterol (HDL), high blood sugar and high blood pressure. It could eventually lead to heart disease if not managed appropriately.

Finding a way to reverse it with a simple diet that is easy and satisfying to people would definitely improve the health of many Americans. At the end of 2008, Spanish researchers reported that eating sufficient amount of nuts a day for a year, together with a Mediterranean diet rich in fruit, vegetables and fish may help prevent heart disease.

In the paper published on December 8, 2008 in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the researchers revealed that people who improved most were told to eat about 3 whole walnuts, 7 or 8 whole hazelnuts and 7 or 8 whole almonds. Although these participants did not lose weight, more of them succeeded in reducing belly fat and improving their cholesterol and blood pressure.

According to the study, nuts help people feel full while also raising the body’s ability to burn fat, and they could have an effect on metabolic syndrome by multiple mechanisms. Being rich in anti-inflammatory substances like fiber and antioxidants like Vitamin-E, nuts contain high amount of unsaturated fat, which can lower blood triglycerides and increase good cholesterol.

More than 1,200 Spaniards, between the age of 55 and 80, participated in the study. They were randomly assigned to take 1 of 3 diets and were followed for a year. These participants had no prior history of heart disease though some of them did have risk factors including Type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure and abdominal obesity. At the start, 751 people who had metabolic syndrome were distributed evenly among the 3 groups.

The first group was known as low-fat group and was advised to reduce all fat in their diets. The second group ate a Mediterranean diet with extra nuts, while the last group ate a Mediterranean diet and told to eat more than 4 tablespoons of olive oil a day.

The 2 groups on the Mediterranean diet were advised to use olive oil for cooking; increase fruit, vegetable and fish consumption; eat white meat instead of beef or processed meat; and prepare homemade tomato sauce with garlic, onions and herbs. Drinkers were told to stick with red wine.

After one year, all 3 groups had fewer people with metabolic syndrome. But, the group eating nuts had the most improvement with only 52 percent having the syndrome, while the olive oil group had 57 percent. As for the low-fat group, there was very little difference in the percentage of people with the syndrome.
In the paper, the researchers also disclosed that they are unpaid advisers to nut industry groups and all of their research has been conducted under standard ethical and scientific rules.

Other experts were surprised that the study could find substantial metabolic benefits in the absence of calorie reduction or weight loss. However, they cautioned that adding nuts to a Western diet, which is already packed with too many calories and junk food, could actually lead to weight gain and more health risks. Anyway, using nuts to replace a snack of chips or crackers could be a very favorable change to make in the diet.

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