Before you scatter croutons on your salad, sauce your pasta Alfredo-style, or snack on cookies or crackers, ask yourself: Could I be using walnuts instead? Among the first tree nuts to be eaten by humans, walnuts are also among those most thoroughly studied for their health benefits-especially in improving cholesterol and preventing cardiovascular disease. They are the highest in polyunsaturated fat and the only nut containing a significant amount of ALA, the plant type of omega-3 fatty acids.
Clinical trials with short-term consumption of tree nuts have shown beneficial results on parameters like lipid profiles, inflammatory markers, oxidative stress, insulin secretion and glucose homeostasis, says Jeffrey Blumberg, PhD, director of Tufts HNRCA Antioxidants Research Laboratory, all of which are risk factors for type 2 diabetes. Recent observational studies also suggest that people eating more nuts have a lower risk of developing diabetes.
So consider substituting walnuts for those croutons, tossing your pasta with a walnut pesto, or reaching for a handful of walnuts instead of less-healthy snacks. Other ideas for working more walnuts into your diet include adding them to stir-fry or vegetable dishes, creating crunch atop oatmeal or fat-free yogurt, and grinding walnuts to thicken sauces or to bread chicken breasts or pork tenderloin. Mix walnuts with a variety of fruit in a salad, blend into a smoothie, include in a lightened-up chicken or tuna salad, or stir into whole-grain pilafs. You can even top pizza or chili with walnuts.
LINKED TO LOWER DIABETES RISK: A new study, published in the Journal of Nutrition, adds to the evidence that the health dividends of boosting your walnut intake could also include reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes. Frank B. Hu, MD, PhD, a professor of medicine at Harvard, and colleagues looked at data on 138,000 women from two large studies over 10 years. During that span, 5,930 women developed diabetes.
After controlling for other diet and lifestyle factors and for weight, women who consumed at least eight ounces of walnuts a month were 24% less likely to develop diabetes, compared to those eating no walnuts. Eight ounces a month is only about a handful of nuts twice a week.
Theres been a lot of research on nuts in general in relationship to cardiovascular health, commented Dr. Hu. This is the first on walnuts and diabetes. Walnuts may have some unique benefits.
Tufts Blumberg advises, While tree nuts and peanuts share a generally similar nutrient profile, the differences between their constituents may allow each to play a slightly different role in contributing to health and so, consistent with dietary guidelines, include a variety of nuts as snacks or as a part of salads and other dishes.