Walnuts Improve Blood Vessel Function

By Diane Fennell If you've resolved to improve your diet in 2014, there's one small step you can take that will reap big rewards, according to new research from the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center: incorporating walnuts into your diet. Previous studies have established the health benefits of nuts, including lowering cholesterol levels, facilitating weight loss, decreasing the risk of heart disease, and boosting brain health. To determine the effect of walnuts on cardiovascular health in overweight adults, the researchers looked at 46 nonsmokers ages 30–75 who had a body-mass index (BMI) greater than 25 (BMI is a measure of weight relative to height; a value of 25–29.9 is considered overweight), a waist circumference greater than 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women, and one or more additional risk factors for the metabolic syndrome (a precursor of cardiovascular disease and diabetes). The participants were randomly assigned to either follow their regular diet plus walnuts or their regular diet without walnuts for eight weeks, followed by a four-week break. At the end of the break, the volunteers were switched to the other group for another eight weeks. Those assigned to the walnut group were instructed to consume 56 grams (approximately a half-cup) of shelled, unroasted English walnuts each day either as a snack or as part of a meal. The investigators found that the addition of walnuts to the diet improved the endothelial function of the bloo...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - Category: Diabetes Authors: Source Type: blogs