Good oil in walnuts helps diabetes
patients
December 4, 2004
People developing Type 2 Diabetes know they need more
than an apple a day to keep the doctor away. But a handful
of walnuts might help.
Walnuts are rich in polyunsaturated fats, Omega oils
and vitamins.
Researchers at the University of Wollongong's Smart
Foods Centre today released the results of a study that
shows how to harness the nutritional value of walnuts,
especially the “good” oils, to help people
manage their diet better in the early stages of Type
2 Diabetes Mellitus.
The research showed that including walnuts in the diet
improves the relative amounts of “good”
cholesterol in this group of patients.
The research findings are in the December issue of
the international journal Diabetes Care, published in
the United States.
That's good news for Australia's 1.2 million people
suffering from Diabetes, and the further two million
estimated to have pre-Diabetes and be at risk of developing
the disease.
National Centre of Excellence for Functional Foods
and former Smart Foods Centre Director Professor Linda
Tapsell said the research had demonstrated how a diet
including 8-10 walnuts a day delivered the right kinds
of fats and fatty acids that might help the body address
one of the problems associated with early stage Type
2 Diabetes - insulin resistance - which hinders the
absorption of glucose from the bloodstream into human
cells.
“We understood the relationship between insulin
resistance and fatty acids, and when we looked at the
composition of walnuts we thought that they could be
useful in delivering the right kinds of fatty acids.
We knew walnuts contained substantial amounts of these
fats, so our challenge was to prove that the theoretical
benefits were real,” Professor Tapsell said.
The team of dietitians from the Smart Foods Centre
and the Illawarra Diabetes Service developed individualised
diets for around 60 people with Type 2 Diabetes for
the six-month study. The diets were based on the core
food groups of cereals and breads, fruit and vegetables,
lean meat, fish, low-fat dairy products, oils, avocadoes,
peanut butter and nuts. Each diet in the treatment group
included 30g of walnuts (equivalent to around 8-10 nuts)
per day.
The diets were carefully modelled to balance all the
other dietary factors such as carbohydrates, proteins,
calories and fats from the other foods to ensure the
benefit was correctly attributed to the walnuts.
“The walnuts took the guesswork out of getting
the right fats into the diet. We knew walnuts would
deliver,” Professor Tapsell said. “Thus,
people with type 2 diabetes could ask their doctor or
dietitian about the benefits of including walnuts in
their dietary management.”
Professor Tapsell said the study had been important
because it confirmed the theoretical benefits of a certain
food. “Food companies need this kind of research
because it assists them in making legitimate claims
about the benefits of certain foods. This particular
research finding is also useful for doctors and dietitians
when they provide advice to people on how to get good
fatty acids into their diets,” she said.
Source:www.news-medical.net
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