Cutting-Edge Advice for Healthy Living
Medical Minutes by John Schieszer
Walnuts May Have Hidden Health Benefits
Adding a handful of walnuts to your diet on a regular basis may help improve your cholesterol levels, according to American researchers. Investigators at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine are now reporting weight loss programs that provide healthy fats, such as olive oil in the Mediterranean diet, or a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet have similar impacts on pound-shedding. However, adding walnuts, which are high in polyunsaturated fats, may have a significant impact on cholesterol levels.
Overweight and obese adult women were enrolled in a one-year behavioural weight loss program and randomly assigned to one of three diets consisting of: low-fat and high-carbohydrate; low-carbohydrate and high-fat; or a walnut-rich, high-fat and low-carbohydrate diet.
The findings showed that all three dietary plans promoted similar weight loss. Women lost the most weight with a low-fat diet, but that strategy did not result in the most benefit for lipid levels. The walnut-rich diet had the most impact on cholesterol levels by decreasing low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or so-called bad cholesterol, and increasing beneficial high-density lipoprotein (HDL). The high-fat, low-carb group, which consumed monounsaturated fats, did not experience the same beneficial effects as the walnut-rich diet, which featured polyunsaturated fatty acids. At six months, the average weight loss was almost eight per cent among all groups.
“This weight loss may not put these women at their ideal weight, but it made a significant reduction in their risk of cardiovascular and other diseases,” said principal investigator Cheryl Rock, PhD, from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.
Combating Migraines in a New Way
American researchers have discovered a new avenue for combating migraine headaches. They have identified a marker in the blood for episodic migraine, which is defined as having less than 15 headaches per month. Researchers in Baltimore (Maryland) conducted a study with 52 women with episodic migraine and 36 women who did not have any headaches.
All the women underwent a neurologic exam and had their body mass index (BMI) measured and gave blood samples. Women with migraine had an average of 5.6 headache days per month. The blood samples were tested for a group of lipids that participate in energy homeostasis and regulate inflammation in the brain.
The investigators found that the total levels of the lipids called ceramides were decreased in women with episodic migraine as compared to those women without any headache disorders. Women with migraine had approximately 6,000 nanograms per millilitre of total ceramides in their blood, compared to women without headaches who had about 10,500 nanograms per millilitre. Every standard deviation increase in total ceramide levels was associated with over a 92 per cent lower risk of having migraine.
“While more research is needed to confirm these initial findings, the possibility of discovering a new biomarker for migraine is exciting,” said study investigator B. Lee Peterlin, who is with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
John Schieszer is an award-winning international journalist and radio and podcast broadcaster of The Medical Minute. He can be reached at medicalminutes@gmail.com.
