Walnuts Improve Artery Flexibility

A new study from the American Journal of Cardiology shows that adding walnuts (a healthy plant source of omega-3 fatty acid) to a high-fat meal reduces negative changes in arteries. Researchers from Barcelona's Hospital Clinical compared how arteries are affected by five teaspoons of olive oil versus eight walnuts when added to a fatty meal. While both walnuts and olive oil decreased inflammation, walnuts increased the elasticity and flexibility of the arteries (called flow-mediated dilation, or FMD) by 24 percent for those with high cholesterol, and FMD was unchanged in the healthy control group. In comparison, those who consumed olive oil showed a 36 percent and 17 percent decrease in FMD for high-cholesterol and control participants, respectively.