Are walnuts the key to weight loss and improving cholesterol?

Forget salad, there could be another food that is great for shedding those excess pounds, and it might just help to protect your heart in the long run!

The key to losing weight could surprisingly be walnuts, according to the findings of a new study, whereby scientists found that a diet rich in both olive oil and walnuts – one of the most popular and versatile of all the nuts – could help boost weight loss as well as increasing the ‘good’ HDL cholesterol levels in overweight people.

The weight loss results were comparable to that of being on a lower fat, higher carbohydrate diet and with regards to the findings, the study has recommended people eating even just a handful of them each day.

Researchers involved with the study say it is even more beneficial to eat walnuts which are high in polyunsaturated fats, as they will provide extra boost to heart health as well as lower cholesterol.
Study author Dr Cheryl Rock, of the San Diego School of Medicine at the University of California, said she was surprised by the results demonstrated in the study.

“One of the surprising findings of this study was even though walnuts are higher in fat and calories, the walnut-rich diet was associated with the same degree of weight loss as a lower fat diet.

“Considering the results of this study, as well as previous walnut research on heart health and weight, there’s something to be said for eating a handful of walnuts a day.”

To come to their conclusion, the team of researchers analysed 245 overweight or obese women aged between 22 and 72, all of whom were part of a one-year weight loss programme.

The women were randomly assigned to one of three different diets. The first was a lower fat and higher carbohydrate diet, the second was a lower carbohydrate and higher fat diet, whilst the third was a walnut-rich, higher fat and lower carbohydrate diet.

Those assigned to the walnut-rich diet would consume around 43g (1.5 ounces) of the nuts a day – which works out at around one and a half handfuls.

After a six month follow-up, it was discovered that women across all of the groups had lost an average of nearly 8% of their initial weight.

Women given the walnut-rich diet were found to have similar amounts of weight to the two other groups, however also had the added benefit of noticeable improvements in their cholesterol levels compared to the women in the other groups.

Specifically, there was a significant decrease noted in the LDL cholesterol (the ‘bad’ cholesterol) and an increase in HDL cholesterol (the ‘good’ cholesterol). This was not evident within the other diet groups.

This happened to be particularly noticeable in the women who were insulin-resistant – a precursor of diabetes.

The researchers believe this was the case as the low-carb high-fat diet group were urged to eat more foods rich in monounsaturated fats, found in a variety of foods and oils.

Foods high in monounsaturated fatty acids are believed to improve blood cholesterol levels, thereby lowering the risk of heart disease.

The walnut-rich diet was found to offer a large amount of polyunsaturated fats though, and in fact walnuts are the only nut where the fat is mainly polyunsaturated, which comprises of a high quantity of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA).

ALA is a plant-derived form of omega-3 fatty acid, an important part of a healthy working body. Omega 3 must be obtained from a person’s diet due to the body being unable to generate it itself. This ultimately means many have insufficient levels of the fatty acid.

Dr Rock admitted as the study only included women, the results may not be the same for men, and did not measure whether the women actually fully stuck to the diets assigned to them, although the women probably adhered to them considering the weight loss experienced.

“In addition to these findings, we hope to explore the effect of walnuts on satiety, as we believe satiety is a critical factor for maintaining weight loss,” Dr Rock concluded.

Overwhelming evidence shows statins are ‘very effective and safe’

The benefits of cholesterol-boosting statins far outweigh the risks and the “jury is no longer out”, leading health experts said yesterday.

Six professors from British universities decided to wade into the fierce debate about Britain’s most prescribed type of medication, and said there is now overwhelming evidence clearly demonstrating cholesterol-lowering statins such as atorvastatin and rosuvastatin are “very effective and safe”.

Presently, there are an estimated seven million people prescribed statins in the UK alone, with the drug recommended for anybody who has a one in five or higher risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke in the proceeding 10 years, or who have already had a major cardiac event. However, there have been calls to widen the scope for who is eligible, with many health experts saying there should be more people taking them than the current guidelines recommend.

However, the heart drugs were in the news earlier this year when they made headlines for their apparent dangerous risks. In May for example, researchers involved in a study into statins published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) were forced to backtrack on claims the drugs increased a patient’s diabetes risk, admitting the claims were incorrect.

Professor Sir Rory Collins, head of the Nuffield Department of Population Health at Oxford University, said: “Side effects could put off high-risk patients from ­taking their life-saving medication. Major vascular events such as heart attacks or stroke are life-changing events for many people so to avoid these is important. The benefits outweigh the risks. The evidence is substantial that the treatment is safe but it remains a choice but one they can only make if they are not misinformed.”

Professor Collins added that it was not uncommon for older people prescribed statins to have aches and pains, but that these symptoms were just as likely to be suffered by those not taking statins.

George Davey Smith, ­professor of clinical epidemiology at the ­University of Bristol, argued that 25 years of research had showed definitive evidence about the major benefits of statin use. He said: “The jury is no longer out on the cost/­benefit ratio.”

Peter Weissberg, ­medical director of the British Heart Foundation, added: “If you take a statin your risk will reduce of having a heart attack or stroke. If you are at negligible risk all you are doing is exposing yourself to a low risk of side effects.”

So it seems statins are here to stay for the long-term, with their efficacy and safety surely no longer in question.

After the BMJ story was published, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) were quick to publish a rebuttal, issuing a safety update reassuring patients that statins were safe.

They commented that 450 deaths from heart attacks, stroke or vascular failure would be avoided for each 10,000 patients treated, if patients at a 20% or higher risk of suffering one of these over a 10-year period were taking statins for at least five years.

Statins may almost halve the risk of developing liver cancer

Cholesterol-busting statins such as Crestor (Rosuvastatin) and Lipitor (Atorvastatin) are currently prescribed to nearly a tenth (7 million) of the population in the United Kingdom, working their magic by raising good/protective cholesterol (HDL) and lowering bad cholesterol (LDL) and triglycerides. The higher your cholesterol level, the higher the chance of you suffering from a stroke or heart disease and thus increasing the overall risk of having a heart attack due to your arteries being clogged up with the fat-like substance known as cholesterol.

Health experts are continuously exploring the potential of statins though and already in the calendar year it has been found they could be beneficial for asthma sufferers, have been linked to a reduction in stroke occurrences and evidence suggest that even the healthier ones among us may reap rewards from taking them.

Amazingly, yet another study has emerged that shows their mind-boggling potential. This time, it is experts from the University of Milan who have decided to spend time to analyse the health boost that statins can bring-about, and they claim that a daily dose of cholesterol-busters can slash the risk of developing fatal liver cancer.

Researchers at the University collated information from a number of past studies that had focused on both statins and liver tumours. This kind of review of data is referred to as a ‘meta-analysis’ and is generally thought to be more accurate than other methods of analysis as it is collecting together results from a large number of studies in order to reach a more definitive conclusion on a particular medications effectiveness; in this case it is statins.

Their analysis looked at findings from five previous studies and uncovered that by taking statins on a regular basis, that person’s risk of developing a tumour was dramatically cut by an incredible 42% when compared against those who were not taking any form of statin medication.
This may now reinforce the argument of many health experts who have been calling for all people over the age of 50 to be prescribed statins to help stop a wide range of chronic and potentially fatal conditions, even if they are in the ‘low-risk’ category.

It is still not certain specifically how the statins work at offering a barrier against the formation of a liver tumour, and more work may need to be done in the future. In their report, published in the European Journal of Cancer Prevention, the Italian researchers commented: “Liver cancer is the third leading cause of cancer mortality and its rates have recently been increasing in central and northern Europe. This analysis suggests a favourable effect of statins on the disease.”

After seeing the report, Dr Safia Danovi, Cancer Research UK’s senior science information officer, gave his opinions and said: “This is interesting work but it doesn’t mean that cancer patients should start reaching for cholesterol-lowering drugs. Scientists, including our own, are asking whether statins could be used to treat cancer but we’re still a long way from a clear answer.”