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RESEARCH

Almonds may lower heart disease risk

A study published in Free Radical Research shows that adding almonds to the diet may reduce heart disease risk in men by lowering blood pressure and improving blood flow.

 

Healthy middle-aged men (mean age 56), healthy young men (mean age 22), and young men with two or more cardiovascular (CV) risk factors (mean age 27) consumed 50 g of almonds/day for four weeks. A control group maintained habitual diets over the same period. Plasma levels of alpha-tocopherol, blood pressure, total HDL- and LDL-cholesterol, and triglycerides were measured at baseline and at the study’s end. Alpha-tocopherol is an antioxidant that occurs naturally in nuts, seeds, certain vegetables, and grains.

Although alpha-tocopherol levels were similar among all groups at baseline, they were markedly higher in the men who ate almonds at the end of four weeks. In addition, their blood flow-mediated dilatation improved and diastolic blood pressure were reduced significantly. Systolic blood pressure declined only among healthy young men who ate almonds. At the end of the study, HDL- and LDL-cholesterol and triglyceride levels were significantly higher in the middle-aged group and the CV group, but the changes weren’t affected by almond consumption.

The researchers concluded that “a short-term almond-enriched diet can increase plasma alpha-tocopherol and improve vascular function in asymptomatic healthy men aged between 20 and 70 years without any effect on plasma lipids or markers of oxidative stress.”

 

Τα αμύγδαλα μπορούν να μειώσουν τον κίνδυνο για καρδιαγγειακές παθήσεις.

 

 

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