Making walnuts part of a balanced diet can help counteract the damage to arteries caused by fatty food new research says.

Over time fat molecules harden the arteries leading to heart disease. But walnuts contain a nutrient that helps the body produce nitric oxide —which helps keep blood vessels flexible. In tests, 24 healthy adults were fed high fat meals with either olive oil or eight shelled walnuts. Both helped to reduce the inflammation of arteries that follows a meal high in fat and leads to hardening. But walnuts were also found to help preserve elasticity and flexibility of blood vessels.

Walnuts contain arginine which is used by the body to produce nitric oxide. They also provide a form of omega 3 which is not found in olive oil.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 9th, 2007 at 8:05 pm and is filed under Heart Disease, Nutrition & Healthy Eating. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.