Healthy Heart and Weight Benefits From Almonds

07/02/05 A new study, which comes during American Heart Month has added weight to the Body of Research on Almonds' healthy heart and weight benefits, The Almond Board of California has reported.
A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition finds that when directly compared to first-generation statins, a certain heart-healthy dietary approach including almonds is just as effective in lowering LDL, or "bad," cholesterol below the recommended range for heart disease prevention.
The approach, known as the "Portfolio" eating plan because it includes a variety of heart-healthy foods, included foods such as oatmeal, beans, olive oil, soy products, and a daily one-ounce handful of almonds. Researchers called almonds a "mini-Portfolio" because in and of themselves, they contain several components emphasized in the eating plan -- vegetable protein, fiber, plant sterols and other several heart-healthy nutrients.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of all American adults have cholesterol levels higher than they should be.
Meanwhile another benefit cited for almonds is the fact that they are nutritionally dense -- a quality emphasized in the government's latest Dietary Guidelines. Almonds are the most nutritionally dense nut, whether compared calorie per calorie or ounce per ounce. The recently released Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 encourage Americans to choose nutritionally dense foods -- that is, to get the most nutrition possible out of the calories you eat. A one-ounce, 164-calorie serving of almonds, or about a handful, is an excellent source of vitamin E and magnesium, and a good source of fiber. It also offers heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, protein, potassium, calcium, phosphorous and iron. In fact, according to a study in the British Journal of Nutrition last fall, individuals who added almonds as a snack to their regular diet increased their overall intake of several important nutrients. The study's researchers, from Loma Linda University in California, concluded that incorporating almonds into a diet may promote the natural displacement of less nutrient-dense foods, making the overall nutritional quality of the diet better.