Walnuts ‘ fight heart disease and cancer’
EATING a handful of walnuts a day can cut your risk of bowel cancer, heart disease and dementia, researchers claim.
A number of studies presented at a conference in the US help shine fresh light on the super- food’s health boosting properties.
Researchers at Ewha Womans University in Korea found that walnut extract reduces the size of colon tumours and slows the spread of cancer stem cells.
They called for further studies into the role of walnut consumption in bowel cancer therapies.
Another recent study at Louisiana State University showed that adding walnuts to the diet of animals improved their gut bacteria, vital in maintaining a healthy bowel.
At Tufts University, Massachusetts, tests on rats found that adding walnuts to their diet improved mental ability.
The researchers said eating walnuts may help protect the ageing brain. And a study of postmenopausal women with high cholesterol by the University of California, Davis, found those who ate walnuts saw improved function in small blood vessels, where clots can cause a heart attack or stroke.
Scientists say the results presented at Experimental Biology 2015 in Boston pave the way for research aimed at understanding walnuts’ role in disease prevention and management.
Among the ingredients which may be behind these health benefits is a fatty acid called ALA.
Dennis Balint, chief executive of the California Walnut Commission, said: “These findings help advance the understanding of the many advantages of eating walnuts as part of a healthy diet, and add to the more than 159 published papers over 20 years that have shown how walnuts affect heart health, diabetes, cancer, cognition, fertility and weight management.”