A handful of walnuts may be an effective weight loss tool.
Walnuts are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and other substances and, in
moderation, have been linked to reduced risk of obesity and diabetes.
They may also efficiently reduce appetite.
Researchers
now may have found out why. They had nine hospitalized obese patients
drink, on five consecutive days, either a smoothie containing 48 grams
of walnuts (1.7 ounces, or about 14 walnut halves and 315 calories) or a
placebo smoothie identical in taste and calorie content. Then, after a
month on their regular diet, the patients returned for a second five-day
trial, with placebo drinkers on the first trial receiving a walnut
smoothie, and vice versa.
The participants
underwent M.R.I. brain exams while looking at pictures of high-fat food
(cake, for example), low-fat food (vegetables) or neutral pictures of
rocks and trees.
The study, published in
Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, found that when people looked at
pictures of high-fat food, activation in the insula, a part of the brain
involved in appetite and impulse control, increased among those who
drank the walnut smoothie, but not among placebo drinkers. The study was
funded in part by the California Walnut Commission.
“Walnuts can alter the way our brains view food and impact our
appetites,” said the lead author, Olivia M. Farr, of Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. “Our results confirm the current
recommendations to include walnuts as part of a healthy diet.”
By Nicholas Bakalaraug, New York Times
More than 19 million tickets have already been sold because the series' start, as
ReplyDeletewell as the show now reaches more than 2,000 cinemas in 70 countries around the globe.