Summary
Background and aim
Small quantities of nuts protect against subsequent cardiovascular risk. There is
speculation that the cholesterol lowering effect associated with nut consumption arises
primarily from the fatty acid composition of nuts but may be caused by some other
component. To evaluate this possibility we compared the effect of various nuts, against
a Canola oil based cereal with a comparable fatty acid profile, on lipids, lipoproteins
and fatty acids to determine whether the fatty acid profile of nuts explains their
cholesterol lowering effects.
Methods and results
Twenty-eight men and women with mean (s.d.) levels of total and low density lipoprotein
cholesterol of 6.0 (1.1) mmol/L, and 4.1 (1.0) mmol/L, respectively and a mean body mass index (BMI) of 26.9 (3.2) kg/m2 took part in a randomised cross over trial. For two periods of six weeks, separated
by a four-week washout, participants were asked to consume a low saturated fat diet,
which included either 30 g/d nuts (nut diet) or one serving of a cereal containing Canola oil (cereal diet).
There were no significant differences in the lipids, lipoproteins, plasma fatty acids
or other variables between the two diets at the end of the study. Total cholesterol
(TC) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were lower on both experimental
diets than at baseline, 0.51 mmol/L and 0.40 mmol/L (p<0.001, p<0.01), respectively on the nut diet and 0.42 mmol/L and 0.37 mmol/L (p<0.001, p<0.01), respectively on the cereal diet.
Conclusion
A 30 g serving of nuts, or a serving of a Canola oil enriched cereal with a similar fatty
acid composition reduced total and LDL cholesterol to a similar extent when consumed
as part of a lipid lowering diet. Results suggest that foods with a similar fatty
acid composition to nuts can produce comparable decreases in lipoprotein mediated
cardiovascular risk.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
January 11,
2005
Received:
June 15,
2004
Identification
Copyright
© 2005 Elsevier B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
