Nuts to You - to Be Specific, Walnuts!

A year ago I blogged about the beneficial effect on blood lipids of eating nuts. The referenced report was a pooled analysis of 25 studies involving over 600 patients, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The authors of the study said the effects were unrelated to one or other particular type of nut. Now there's a study described at a meeting of the American Chemical Society that reports the pre-eminence of walnuts as health givers.

The health benefits of nuts are generally ascribed to their antioxidant content, although they all contain amounts of high-quality protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals. In addition, they contain healthy polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats rather than artery-clogging saturated fat.

In the study, antioxidants were analyzed in nine different types of nuts: walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, macadamias, and pecans. The potency of antioxidants in walnuts was 2 to 15 times greater than that of vitamin E, known for its powerful antioxidant effects. Based on equivalent volumes, walnuts contain almost twice as much antioxidants as any other commonly consumed nut. Since many nuts are eaten after roasting, there's another advantage of walnuts – they are usually eaten raw or unroasted, so that the antioxidant effects are preserved.

Nuts are high in calories, but eating them does not appear to cause weight gain; this may be because they produce a feeling of fullness. The recommended number of walnuts to obtain the antioxidant benefit reported in other studies is 8 to 10 a day.

This would be a small, indeed a pleasant price to pay for the reported beneficial action on blood vessel elasticity; however this particular effect was reported in a small study partially sponsored by the walnut industry! I guess we must wait for further larger, independant, controlled studies.