NUTS ARE GOOD FOR THE HEART. ANOTHER NUTRICEUTICAL

It was alongtime ago when I posted a piece on nuts, cholesterol and the heart. At that time it was thought that there were some differences in their effectiveness and protection. That walnut was superior to the other nuts. I remember this because, after reading the article, I went out to buy walnuts to try it out.
Well, Dr Joan Sabate and colleagues at the Loma Linda University in California, undertook a meta analysis of the data on nuts and the heart. The analysed 25 studies involving about 583 patients, who had baseline lipid levels and also a history of nuts consumption. Their findings was published in the May 11 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. Basically, they found that consuming 4 servings of nuts a week, could reduce your LDL-C by about 8% and extrapolated, could reduce your risk of coronary heart disease by about 40%. This seem to be true whichever nuts you consume. It could be almonds, pecans, pistachios, hazelnuts. walnut or even peanuts. The more nuts, the better the reduction and the higher the initial baseline cholesterol, the more the reduction. Not to forget the lowering the troublesome cholesterol is onething. Nuts also improve endothelial function, and so allow for better flow characteristics. I must say that nuts, a nice conversation and a good glass of wine, is so good to relax, and maybe that is why it is good for the heart.
However, one must not forget that nuts also contain some aflotoxins which could potentially be harmful to the liver.
Well, the world cup football is almost upon us. Perhaps the preferred "munchies" this time should be nuts, and for the wine lovers, a good glass of reds.