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California Walnuts | Essential Food for Health

MEDITERRANEAN DIET BETTER THAN A LOW-FAT DIET: Landmark Clinical Study Suggests Including Walnuts May Cut Risk of Heart Disease by 50%

(SACRAMENTO, CALIF) July 6, 2006 – In what’s being hailed as one of the world's largest and longest dietary intervention studies, early results indicate that the so-called Mediterranean diet may reduce the risks of heart attack and cardiovascular disease by up to one half.

In an article entitled “Effects of a Mediterranean-Style Diet on Cardiovascular Risk Factors,” reported in the July 4 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, the researchers note that high risk participants who improved their diet with vegetables, legumes, olive oil or nuts, especially walnuts, showed lower blood pressure, improved lipid profiles, decreased insulin resistance and reduced concentrations of inflammatory molecules compared with those allocated to a low-fat diet (American Heart Association guidelines).

“The early results of this clinical trial indicate that the Mediterranean diet pattern is ideal for cardiovascular disease prevention. What we knew before was scattered pieces of evidence from prospective studies. The primary endpoint of this long-term study will be a composite outcome of cardiovascular events (cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, and stroke). The results to date make us believe, long term, the Mediterranean diet enriched with walnuts or olive oil will indeed reduce heart disease. The size, duration and clinical basis of this study make it landmark,” said Dr. Emilio Ros, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, and PREDIMED study co-investigator.

The investigators of this 4-year clinical study being conducted under the sponsorship of the Spanish Ministry of Health reviewed the effects of the diet on almost 800 men and women aged 55 to 80 years. Each participant had either diabetes or three or more cardiovascular risk factors: family history of early-onset heart disease, excessive weight, smoking, hypertension, or high blood cholesterol levels. Researchers maintain that the early results of this clinical trial suggest that the Mediterranean diet pattern is ideal for cardiovascular disease reduction.

Carried out by primary care doctors affiliated with 10 teaching hospitals across Spain, the Prevencion con Dieta Mediterranea (PREDIMED) study is a large, parallel-group, multicenter, randomized, controlled four-year feeding trial that aims to assess the effects of the Mediterranean diet on the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (www.predimed.org).

Get crackin’ on this quiz!
 
Are you eating a Mediterranean diet?
The higher your score, the more likely you’re eating a Mediterranean-style diet!

Foods & Frequency of Consumption
Criteria for 1 Point
Your
Score
1.       How many servings of nuts (especially walnuts) do you consume per week? (1 serving = 1 ounce, about ¼ cup or 2 tablespoons nut butter)
RESEARCHERS NOTE: “Walnuts differ from all other nuts through their high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids, particularly alpha-linolenic acid, a plant omega-3 fatty acid, which may confer additional antiatherogenic properties.”
≥ 1
 
2.       Do you use olive oil as main culinary fat?           
Yes
 
3.       How much olive oil do you consume in a given day (including oil used for frying, salads, out-of-house meals, etc.)?
≥ 4 tbsp
 
4.       How many vegetable servings do you consume per day?  (1 serving = 1/2 cup)
≥ 2
 
 
5.       How many servings of fruit (including 100% fruit juice) do you consume per day? (1 serving = ½ cup fruit or 4 ounces juice)
≥ 3
 
 
6.       How many servings of red meat, hamburger, or meat products (ham, sausage, etc.) do you consume per day? (1 serving = 4-5 ounces)
<1
 
7.       How many servings of butter, margarine or cream do you consume per day? (1 serving =1 tablespoon)
<1
 
8.       How many sweet or carbonated beverages do you drink per day?
        (1 servings = 12 fluid ounces)
<1
 
 
9.        How many 5-ounce glasses wine do you drink per week?
≥ 3 glasses
 
 
10.     How many ½ cup servings of legumes (e.g. beans, peas or lentils) do you consume per week?
≥ 3
 
11.     How many servings of fish or shellfish do you consume per week?  (1 serving = 4 ounces of fish or 6 ounces of shellfish)
≥ 3
 
12.    How many times per week do you consumer commercial sweets or               pastries (not homemade) such as cakes, cookies, biscuits, doughnuts or fritters?
< 3
 
 
13.   Do you preferentially consume chicken or turkey meat instead of veal, pork, hamburger or sausage?
Yes
 
14.   How many times per week do you consume vegetables, pasta, rice or other dishes seasoned with sofrito (a sauce made with tomato and onion, leek or garlic and simmered with olive oil)?
≥ 2
 
 
 
YOUR TOTAL SCORE
(Maximum Score = 14 points)