14 DAY TRIAL // The Mediterranean diet is mostly known for its efficiency in diminishing the incidence of diseases such as asthma, or different allergies, and mostly in prolonging life for the ones embracing it as a way of life. The diet, rich in fruit and vegetables, can from now be perfected through the addition of nuts. Experts from University of Rovira i Virgili in Spain found out that a daily intake of mixed nuts could help prevent metabolic syndrome, responsible for obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and intolerance to glucose.
The research spanned over a year, and 1,224 Spanish men and women, aged from 55 to 80, were tested. All the subjects were suffering from various heart diseases, but only 61.4 percent presented symptoms of metabolic syndrome. The participants were divided into three groups: the first one was asked to go on a Mediterranean diet, receiving an extra liter of olive oil, the second one followed the same diet, with 30 grams of nuts added daily, instead of the olive oil, whereas the control group was put on a low-fat diet.
After a year, the participants to the research were tested again. The results clearly showed that the most efficient way of decreasing the incidence of the metabolic syndrome was combining the Mediterranean diet with nuts.
The participants in this group showed a 14% decrease in their chances of getting sick due to metabolic syndrome, when the percentage in the other testing groups was much smaller (namely 7% and 2%, with the low-fat diet the least efficient). The same group of people also demonstrated significant changes in the waist circumference, the level of blood pressure and the amount of triglycerides in the blood.
Even if scientists already knew that nuts were rich in fibers, unsaturated fats, potassium, calcium and magnesium, the new study revealed that they could also be beneficial for some of the risk factors characterizing the metabolic syndrome – among them, the resistance to insulin and cell-damage.