Snacking on almonds instead of carbs could reduce the risk of heart disease.
Researchers found when a 1.5-ounce serving of almonds was consumed in replacement of a high-carbohydrate, a number of heart disease risk factors improved in patients, the Almond Board of California reported. Eating almonds was also shown to help reduce belly fat.
The findings are significant because it has been estimated that at least 80 percent of premature deaths as a result of cardiovascular disease could have been prevented though a healthier lifestyle.
"Our research found that substituting almonds for a high-carbohydrate snack improved numerous heart health risk factors, including the new finding that eating almonds reduced belly fat," said Claire Berryman, lead researcher of the study. "Choosing almonds as a snack may be a simple way to help fight the onset of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases."
To make their findings the researchers conducted a randomized, controlled clinical study that included 52 overweight adults who were healthy despite a high LDL cholesterol level. The participants were put on cholesterol-lowering diets that were identical except that one group was given a snack of almonds while the other received a banana muffin that was equal in calories; after six weeks the groups switched diets.
The diet containing the almond snack was found to decrease total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol non-HDL-cholesterol and remnant lipoproteins when compared with the banana muffin diet. The banana muffin diet was also found to reduce HDL (good) cholesterol when compared with the diet containing the almond snack.
"This study joins nearly two decades of research showing that almonds can help maintain a healthy heart and healthy cholesterol levels, and provides new evidence showing that regularly eating almonds instead of a high-carbohydrate snack may have benefits on body composition," the researchers stated.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the Journal of the American Heart Association.
