Walnuts and Health
Mediterranean Diet
Scientists have come across a nutty risk reducer: Eating a handful of nuts a day for a year — along with a Mediterranean diet rich in fruit, vegetables and fish — may be beneficial to your health.
Walnuts are a traditional component in the Mediterranean diet and a key ingredient in the landmark PREDIMED study: a multicenter, randomized, primary prevention trial of cardiovascular disease supported by the Spanish Health Ministry. The PREDIMED study, expected to be completed in 2011, is a large five-year feeding trial in Spain aimed at assessing the effects of the Mediterranean diet on the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.
Results:
Published research on the preliminary studies from PREDIMED has found the consumption of the Mediterranean diet, supplemented with oil olive (1 liter per week )or nuts (30 grams per day), primarily walnuts (15 g walnuts, 7.5 g hazelnuts and 7.5 grams almonds) to be linked with:
- Reduction in the Incidence of type 2 diabetes
- Lower levels of inflammatory markers – linked to atherosclerosis, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes
- Reduced arterial pressure
- Decreased blood lipids and fasting blood glucose
- Improvement in the management of metabolic syndrome – a collection of risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease and diabetes
- Enhanced bone metabolism in the elderly
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