The AMA is making me nuts… over nuts

Nuts are a health food—there’s no arguing that. Yet, the medical powers-that-be still insist on telling people to eat them “sparingly.”

At this point, I just want to scream “Show me the research!” at every last member of the medical establishment. Because honestly, I really want to see the reasoning behind what they suggest. (Assuming, of course, that there is any.)

It’s beyond absurd. And every day, I find it harder and harder to stay calm about it. Because these misguided recommendations aren’t doing anyone any good. In fact, they’re actively harming our entire country.

The fact is, nuts are packed with beneficial fatty acids that slash inflammation and mop up free radicals. Not only that, but they’re also rich in fat, which helps satisfy those “snack attacks”—and keep you fuller for longer periods of time… which means you don’t eat as much over the course of the day.

And as if those benefits weren’t enough on their own, eating nuts regularly also cuts your risk of heart disease.

Plenty of studies have highlighted the heart-healthy benefits of nuts over the years. But some new research I came across recently was particularly impressive.

This new study comes courtesy of the University of California, and appeared in the Journal of the American Heart Association. (It was also funded by the California Walnut Commission, so make of that what you will. Personally, I can’t see a walnut commission bribing scientists, but I guess you never do know.)

Over 200 overweight and obese women were assigned one of three diets. One was lower in fat and higher in carbs. (Fat comprised 20 percent of daily calories in this diet, and carbs comprised 65 percent.) The second was lower in carbs (comprising 45 percent of all calories) and higher in fat (35 percent).

Finally, the third group had the same fat and carb breakdown as the second—with fat and carbs comprising 35 and 45 percent of the calorie load, respectively. Only this diet also happened to be rich in walnuts. (Women in the group ate 1.5 ounces of walnuts—or roughly 21 walnut halves—per day.)

And guess what?

According to lead researcher Dr. Cheryl Rock: “A reduced-calorie diet containing unsaturated fats, such as those found in walnuts and olive oil, has similar effects on weight loss as a low-fat, higher-carbohydrate diet. However, a walnut-rich higher fat-diet has the most beneficial effects on…risk for cardiovascular disease.”

Triglycerides decreased in all three of the diet groups. But the walnut-rich diet boosted healthy HDL, and slashed artery-clogging LDL. The low-fat, no-walnut diet did cut total cholesterol (which, as I’ve explained before, means very little). But it also had another, more dangerous effect: It lowered HDL.

Let me repeat: The low-fat diet lowered HDL—otherwise known as your healthy cholesterol.

And yet, that’s the diet that the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Heart Association (AHA) want you to follow.

I guess they need more patients. (Or more statin prescriptions. We all know how much they love giving those out.)

Yes, sugar kills… but so does the AMA, it appears. And their weapon of choice is supreme ignorance.

Source:

http://preventdisease.com/news/16/021216_Handful-Walnuts-Reduce-Weight-Heart-Disease.shtml