Walnuts Good For Blood Pressure

Are you facing serious stress or increasing blood pressure? Then eat walnuts.

It has been proven by a team of researchers that a diet rich in walnuts and walnut oil  can prepare the body to deal better with stress and help influence blood pressure  positively.

The Penn State researchers who looked at how these foods, which contain polyunsaturated  fats, influence blood pressure  confirmed previous studies which showed that omega-3  fatty acids-like the alpha linolenic acid found in walnuts-can reduce bad cholesterol.  These foods may also reduce other markers of inflammation in the body, the report stated.

One of the researchers who came up with the report published in the current issue of the  Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Sheila G. West,  said: “People who show an  exaggerated biological response to stress are at higher risk of heart disease,”  maintaining that “we wanted to find out if omega 3-fatty acids from plant sources would  blunt cardiovascular responses to stress.”

The Associate Professor of Biobehavioural Health said the result was positive.

Using a randomised crossover study design, the researchers studied 22 healthy adults  with elevated cholesterol. All meals and snacks were provided during three diet periods  of six weeks each.

They said they found that walnuts and walnut oil included in the diet lowered both  resting blood pressure and blood pressure responses to stress in the laboratory.

“This is the first study to show that walnuts and walnut oil reduce blood pressure during  stress,” West stressed, adding that the result further showed that when walnut is added  to flaxseed oil, it reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.

After the participants were given meals mixed with walnut or its oil and tried while  their blood pressure was measured, the results showed that average diastolic blood  pressure-the “bottom number” or the pressure in the arteries when the heart is  resting-was significantly reduced during the diets containing walnuts and walnut oil.

Walnuts are a rich source of fiber, antioxidants, and unsaturated fatty acids,  particularly alpha linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid, and these compounds could be  responsible for the beneficial effects on blood pressure.

According to West, “These results are in agreement with several recent studies showing  that walnuts can reduce cholesterol and blood pressure.”

—Eromosele Ebhomele