A Nutty Way to Improve Cholesterol
in Diabetes
Eating a Healthy Diet Including Walnuts May Reduce
Type 2 Diabetes Risks
December 3, 2004
By Jennifer Warner
Incorporating a handful of walnuts into a healthy diet
may help people with type 2 diabetes improve their cholesterol
levels and reduce their risk of heart disease, a new
study suggests.
Researchers found including walnuts as part of a balanced,
low-fat diet helped people with diabetes increase their
"good" HDL cholesterol levels while lowering
their "bad" LDL cholesterol levels.
But don't reach for the nut bowl just yet. Experts
say merely adding walnuts to an already unhealthy diet
won't necessarily undo the damage. Instead, they say
it's important to substitute walnuts for other sources
of fat in the diet in order to achieve the best results.
Walnuts contain an omega-3 fatty acid called alpha-linolenic
acid or ALA, which is similar to the omega-3 fatty acids
found in fatty fish, such as salmon. Previous studies
have shown that alpha-linolenic acid has a number of
heart-healthy effects, including improving cholesterol
levels.
Researchers say this is one of the first studies to
look at the effects of the fatty acids found in walnuts
in people with type 2 diabetes.
Walnuts May Aid in Diabetes Management
In the study, which appears in the December issue of
Diabetes Care, researchers looked at the effects of
three different diets on cholesterol levels in older
adults with type 2 diabetes.
Nearly 60 men and women were divided into three groups
that followed three different diet plans: a low-fat
diet, a modified-fat diet, or a modified-fat diet that
included eight to 10 walnuts per day (30 grams). All
of the diets were based on eating a variety of whole
foods, such as cereals and breads, fruits and vegetables,
lean meat, fish, and low-fat dairy products with no
more than 30% of total calories from fat.
After six months of the diet, the results showed that
the people who ate the modified-fat diet including walnuts
experienced a bigger increase in "good" HDL
cholesterol levels than those in the other two diets.
People who ate walnuts as part of a balanced diet also
experienced an average 10% reduction in "bad"
LDL cholesterol levels.
Researchers say the study suggests that incorporating
walnuts into a healthy diet may be an easy way for people
with type 2 diabetes to get the right kinds of fats
and fatty acids into their diet.
"Walnuts are an easy and convenient way of getting
polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids into the diet. And
they're particularly important for people with diabetes
because they're a simple snack food, which is an integral
component of managing the diet in diabetes," says
researcher Linda Tapsell, PhD, of the University of
Wollongong in Australia, in a news release.
Although the walnut diet appeared to help improve cholesterol
levels in people with type 2 diabetes, no significant
differences were found between the groups in terms of
body weight or body fat.
Funding for the study was provided by the California
Walnut Commission.
Source:http://my.webmd.com
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