Georgetown University's Center for Food and Nutrition: Nuts Shown to
Have
Health Benefits

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Adding nuts to a healthy,
balanced diet
may provide a number of health benefits, according to researchers
speaking
today at Georgetown University's Center for Food and Nutrition Policy.
At a
conference titled "Making the Claim for Nuts," researchers discussed
the role
of nuts in heart disease, cancer and weight control.

"Tree nuts have long been perceived as a high-fat, high-calorie food
to be
avoided," said Lester M. Crawford, DVM, PhD, Director and Research
Professor
at the Center.  "But with a growing body of positive research,
particularly
in the area of heart disease, tree nuts are finally getting the
attention
that they deserve."

While high in total fat, tree nuts are a rich source of unsaturated
fats that
have important health attributes.  According to conference keynote
speaker
Penny Kris-Etherton, PhD, RD of Pennsylvania State University, "When
included
in the diet, the fatty acids, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients
contained
in tree nuts may interact synergistically to produce marked health
benefits."

To date, there have been five large epidemiological studies examining
the
relationship between nut consumption and coronary heart disease (CHD).
"All
of these studies found an inverse association between nut intake and
CHD
risk," said Gary Fraser, MD of Loma Linda University, California,
principal
investigator for one of the five studies.  In the most recent, the
Nurses'
Health Study, researchers found that women who ate at least 5 ounces
of nuts
per week had a 35 percent lower risk of CHD than women who rarely ate
nuts.
Similar findings have been seen in men.

A number of clinical studies revealed beneficial effects of nuts on
blood
lipid levels, supporting the epidemiological findings.  "The
beneficial
effects of nuts on blood lipids may be due to the fact that nuts are
rich in
unsaturated fats and contain a variety of protective nutrients,
including
omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, selenium, magnesium and fiber," said
Joan
Sabate, MD, DrPH of Loma Linda University.

Tree nuts may also eventually prove to be effective in protecting
against
certain forms of cancer.  Paul Davis, PhD, University of California,
Davis,
said, "While the role of specific nuts in cancer will need to be much
more
fully explored and defined, the increasing evidence for benefits from
nuts
suggests that the 'nuts equals a high-fat, high-calorie food' which
mean 'to
be avoided' needs to be reassessed."

Finally, researchers have found that including nuts in the diet does
not
appear to cause weight gain, as long as total calories are controlled.
In an
18-month study conducted at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston,
researchers compared a diet containing 35 percent calories from fat to
a low
fat diet (20 percent of calories from fat) in 101 overweight men and
women.
Both diets were limited to 1200 calories for women and 1500 calories
for men,
with the additional fat in the moderate fat group coming from nuts and
olive
and canola oils.

"After six months, weight loss was comparable in both groups," stated
Kathy
McManus, MS, RD, of Brigham and Women's Hospital.  "However, at the
end of 18
months, there was a significant difference in participation rates."
While 54
percent of the moderate fat group was still actively participating,
only 20
percent remained in the low fat group.  "A moderate fat diet may
contribute
more flavor and variety, resulting in greater participation rates,"
McManus
said.

As the research on tree nuts continues to grow, it appears that eating
a
handful (one ounce) of mixed nuts a day, as part of a healthy diet,
may help
curb the appetite and provide other health benefits.

SOURCE  Georgetown University