Evidence for Paleo foods continues to grow: Almonds

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.”

Success Story: “30 days of caveman”

After reading multiple sources on the science and justification for this diet, I decided to try it for 30 days.  I had my physician order some blood work for later comparison, cleaned out my cabinets, and got to it.

The results forever changed how I would think of food.  What I had originally thought was a diet of moderation and general health was in fact quite the opposite.

According to my pre-diet blood profile, I was quickly approaching necessary medical intervention.  My total cholesterol and LDL levels were far too high.  HDL levels were quite low as well.

After 30 days of eating only approved foods, every blood value I had tested had improved.  The test ran values on 15 various markers and every single test came back healthier.

Fitness & Function

Joseph finally quit grains to lower his bad cholesterol

Small, dense LDL is the type of cholesterol that gets under your vascular "skin", the thin lining that protects the inside of the vessel wall. These small, dense molecules are suspected to cause the first insult, which invites other factors to pile on and build a dangerous sludge in your artery called atherosclerosis. If you are a baby boomer like me, you were taught that cholesterol was bad. Then, no, no, HDL cholesterol is actually good; it was LDL cholesterol that was bad. Now we learn there are two types of LDL, large, buoyant LDL and the small, dense LDL. The small, dense version is the worst of the two. 

We also learned that the main cause of elevated cholesterol was fat. Well, yes, factory-made transfat is bad, but the biggest dietary cause of increased small dense LDL, is... carbohydrates! Dr. William Davis, author of The Heart Scan Blog, illustrates this in the case of Joseph, "a whip-smart corporate attorney" with high LDL cholesterol. Joseph's numbers before changing his diet were: LDL -2620 nmol/L, and small LDL - 2331 nmol/L. Dr. Davis writes:

I advised him to eliminate wheat, cornstarch, and sugars, while limiting other carbohydrate sources, as well. Joseph didn't like this idea very much … (he) replaced all sugar and refined flour products with whole grains, but did not restrict his intake of grains. 

LDL decreased a small amount to 2451 nmol/L and small LDL to 1998 nmol/L. Dr. Davis:

I explained to Joseph that any grain, complex, refined, or simple--will, just like other sugars and carbohydrates, still provoke small LDL. Given the severity of his patterns, I suggested trying again, this time with full elimination of grains. 

Finally, LDL significantly decreased to 1320 nmol/L and small LDL to 646 nmol/L

This is typical of the LDL responses I see with elimination of wheat products on the background of an overall carbohydrate restriction. 

Take home point: Although genetics plays a role, the modern high carb diet with its refined sugars and grains raises your small, dense LDL, the really bad cholesterol. Unfortunately the test for small, dense LDL is expensive and not available in most medical offices. Talk to your doctor and find out what evaluation is right for you. 

(By the way, statin medications do not decrease small, dense LDL.)