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Save Your Arteries With a Bag of Walnuts
Polishing off a handful of walnuts is hardly as appetising a prospect as savouring a chocolate fudge cake with cream, but scientists suggest that the former option could prove extremely beneficial in reducing the damage we habitually cause to our arteries.
Researchers at the Hospital Clinico in Barcelona have shown that the natural chemicals present in walnuts are able to boost the flexibility of arteries, thus reducing the chances of suffering a heart attack or developing coronary disease.
A particularly fatty feast, therefore, could be usefully followed by a dessert of walnuts, which seems to reduce the risk of the arteries becoming blocked.
"Each time we eat a high-fat meal, the fat molecules trigger an inflammatory reaction that, among other ill-effects, reduces the elasticity of the arteries," said Dr Emilio Ros.
"Over time this repeated damage is thought to contribute to hardening of the arteries and, in turn, to heart disease. Our research shows that eating walnuts helps to maintain the elasticity of the arteries."
Funded by the California Walnut Commission, the research was carried out on 24 adults, who were divided into two groups for the purposes of the experiment. All were instructed to follow a low-cholesterol diet for two weeks, before eating a salami-and-cheese sandwich and a full-fat yoghurt.
Half of the volunteers then consumed five teaspoons of olive oil, while the remaining 12 ate several shelled walnuts.
While olive oil and walnuts were both shown to reduce the onset of inflammation and oxidation in the arteries, the walnuts also contributed to the preservation of flexibility, which can allow the arteries to expand to increase the blood flow.
Dr Ros believes that the secret behind this effect is the presence in walnuts of alpha-linolenic acid - one of the essential fatty acids - which is also found in rapeseed, chia, flaxseed and soybeans.
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