One More Reason to Eat those Walnuts!

The artery-clogging effects of that high-fat meal you just consumed could be lessened with a different type of "dessert" - a few walnuts. Spanish researchers recently concluded that walnut consumption after a high-fat meal can have immediate benefits in addition to their widely recognized long term benefits.

For the study, which published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and was funded by the Spanish government and the California Walnut Commission, 24 volunteers were given a dinner consisting of a salami and cheese sandwich on white bread and high-fat yogurt. For dessert, half were given 5 teaspoons of olive oil and the other half had 40 grams of walnuts (roughly 1.4 ounces).

The results? Eating high-fat meals caused inflammation and oxidation of the arteries which eventually can lead to hardening of the arteries, a precursor to heart disease. Both olive oil and walnuts lessened the start of inflammation and oxidation in the arteries after the fatty meal, but the walnuts were the ones that kept the vessels flexible and elastic regardless of the volunteer's cholesterol levels. This elasticity lets the arteries expand when needed to increase blood flow to the body. Lead researcher Dr. Emilio Ros, director of the Lipid Clinic at Hospital Clinico in Barcelona says that the alpha-linolenic acid (Omega-3 fatty acid) in walnuts provided this added benefit. The research team recommends consuming 8 walnuts a day for artery health.

Of course, this doesn't mean that you should eat a Big Mac, large fries and a milkshake and expect a few walnuts to offset the results.