Walnuts may help support heart health

A new large-scale review by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health adds to the evidence that nut consumption may benefit heart health.

The study was published June 21, 2018 in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

First author Marta Guasch-Ferré, research associate in the Department of Nutrition, and colleagues reviewed 26 clinical trials with a total of 1,059 participants aged 22 to 75, comparing the benefits of a diet rich in walnuts with low-fat, Western, Mediterranean, and Japanese diets. They found that people on the walnut-enriched diets had a 3.25% greater reduction in total cholesterol levels, a 3.73% greater decrease in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol—the “bad cholesterol—and a 5.52% greater reduction in triglycerides (a type of fat found in the blood) compared to those on the other diets.

Heart healthy benefits were noticed even among participants who ate fewer than 28 grams per day of walnuts, according to the researchers. Walnut consumption did not appear to adversely affect participants’ body weight or blood pressure.

Read MedicalNewsToday coverage: Large study reviews the cardiovascular benefits of walnuts

Learn more

Eating nuts linked with better heart health (Harvard Chan School news)

Nuts for the Heart (Harvard Chan School’s Nutrition Source)