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Smart for the Heart

Heart Health

Eating a handful of walnuts every day is an easy way to boost your daily nutrition. Due to the strength of evidence supporting cardiovascular health, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a qualified health claim for walnuts in March 2004.1

A 2009 meta-analysis published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition3, reviews the heart health benefits of walnuts on 365 participants from several trials. When compared with control diets, diets supplemented with walnuts resulted in a significantly greater decrease (10.3 mg/dL) in total cholesterol (TC) and LDL “bad” cholesterol (-9.2 mg/dL). In addition, according to the studies in the analysis, walnuts provided significant benefits for certain antioxidant capacity and inflammatory markers and had no adverse effects on body weight.

Scientific studies showing how walnuts can help cholesterol, blood pressure and inflammation:

Effects of walnut consumption on blood lipids and other cardiovascular risk factors: a meta-analysis and systematic review
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Walnuts and fatty fish influence different serum lipid fractions in normal to mildly hyperlipidemic individuals: a randomized controlled study
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The scientific evidence for a beneficial health relationship between walnuts and coronary heart disease
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Acute effects of high-fat meals enriched with walnuts or olive oil on postprandial endothelial function
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Dietary alpha-linolenic acid reduces inflammatory and lipid cardiovascular risk factors in hypercholesterolemic men and women. 
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1 “Supportive but not conclusive research shows that eating 1.5 ounces of walnuts per day, as part of a low saturated fat and low cholesterol diet, and not resulting in increased caloric intake may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.”
 
2 One ounce of walnuts provides 18g of total fat, 2.5g of monounsaturated fat, 13g of polyunsaturated fat, including 2.5g of alpha-linolenic acid – the plant-based omega-3.
 
3 Effects of walnut consumption on blood lipids and other cardiovascular risk factors: a meta-analysis and systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr (May 20, 2009). doi:10.3945/ajcn.2009.27457.

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Copyright 2012 California Walnut Commission

Supportive but not conclusive research shows that eating 1.5 ounces of walnuts per day, as part of a low saturated fat and low cholesterol diet, and not resulting in increased caloric intake may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, March 2004.

One ounce of walnuts provides 18g of total fat, 2.5g of monounsaturated fat, 13g of polyunsaturated fat, including 2.5g of alpha–linolenic acid — the plant-based omega–3.