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A Nutty Way To Improve Cholesterol In Diabetes

Posted: Thursday, December 09, 2004

undefined undefined Including Walnuts in a Low Fat/Modified Fat Diet Improves HDL Cholesterol-to-Total Cholesterol Ratios in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes."

The aim of the study was to examine the effect of a moderate-fat diet inclusive of walnuts on blood lipid profiles in patients with type 2 diabetes.

National Centre of Excellence for Functional Foods and former Smart Foods Centre Director Professor Linda Tapsell said the research had demonstrated how a diet including 8-10 walnuts a day delivered the right kinds of fats and fatty acids that might help the body address one of the problems associated with early stage Type 2 Diabetes - insulin resistance - which hinders the absorption of glucose from the bloodstream into human cells.

"We understood the relationship between insulin resistance and fatty acids, and when we looked at the composition of walnuts we thought that they could be useful in delivering the right kinds of fatty acids. We knew walnuts contained substantial amounts of these fats, so our challenge was to prove that the theoretical benefits were real," Professor Tapsell said.

The team of dietitians from the Smart Foods Centre and the Illawarra Diabetes Service developed individualised diets for around 60 people with Type 2 Diabetes for the six-month study. The diets were based on the core food groups of cereals and breads, fruit and vegetables, lean meat, fish, low-fat dairy products, oils, avocadoes, peanut butter and nuts. Each diet in the treatment group included 30g of walnuts (equivalent to around 8-10 nuts) per day.

The diets were carefully modeled to balance all the other dietary factors such as carbohydrates, proteins, calories and fats from the other foods to ensure the benefit was correctly attributed to the walnuts.

"The walnuts took the guesswork out of getting the right fats into the diet. We knew walnuts would deliver," Professor Tapsell said. "Thus, people with type 2 diabetes could ask their doctor or dietitian about the benefits of including walnuts in their dietary management."

Professor Tapsell said the study had been important because it confirmed the theoretical benefits of a certain food. "Food companies need this kind of research because it assists them in making legitimate claims about the benefits of certain foods. This particular research finding is also useful for doctors and dietitians when they provide advice to people on how to get good fatty acids into their diets," she said.

It was a parallel randomized controlled trial comparing three dietary advice groups each with 30% energy as fat: low fat, modified low fat, and modified low fat inclusive of 30 g of walnuts per day. Fifty-eight men and women, mean age 59.3 +/- 8.1 years, started the trial. Dietary advice was given at baseline with monthly follow-up and fortnightly phone calls for support. Body weight, percent body fat, blood lipids, HbA(1c), total antioxidant capacity, and erythrocyte fatty acid levels were measured at 0, 3, and 6 months.

The results showed that the walnut group achieved a significantly greater increase in HDL cholesterol-to-total cholesterol ratio (P = 0.049) and HDL (P = 0.046) than the two other treatment groups. A 10% reduction in LDL cholesterol was also achieved in the walnut group, reflecting a significant effect by group (P = 0.032) and time (P = 0.036). There were no significant differences between groups for changes in body weight, percent body fat, total antioxidant capacity, or HbA(1c) levels. The higher dietary polyunsaturated fat-to-saturated fat ratio and intakes of omega-3 fatty acids in the walnut group were confirmed by erythrocyte biomarkers of dietary intake.

From the results it was concluded that structured "whole of diet" advice that included 30 g of walnuts/day delivering substantial amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acid improved the lipid profile of patients with type 2 diabetes.

Source: Diabetes In Control.com.