IMAGE: Daniel Schwen
Science World Report reviews a new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association on snacking on muffins versus almonds in overweight middle-aged adults with elevated LDL cholesterol:
“While past evidence has shown that eating almonds can improve heart health, the researchers decided to investigate this phenomenon a bit further. They conducted 12-week, randomized, controlled clinical studies. In all, 52 overweight, middle-aged adults who had a high total and LDL cholesterol but were otherwise healthy participated. These volunteers ate cholesterol-lowering diets that were identical; the only difference is that one group was given a daily snack of 1.5 ounces of whole natural almonds, while the other group was given a banana muffin that provided the same number of calories.”
According to one of the authors:
“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. Choosing almonds as a snack may be a simple way to help fight the onset of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases.”