Eat walnuts to lower blood pressure, new study suggests
A new study suggests that eating walnuts might help people at risk of cardiovascular disease to lower their blood pressure — that is, if they consume them as part of a diet low in saturated fats.
The scientists, at Pennsylvania State University in State College, explain that their study is one of the first to investigate how the properties of walnuts may affect heart health.
The results of the research, which the California Walnut Commission part funded, now appear in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Walnuts contain a plant-based omega-3 called alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which scientists believe has beneficial effects on blood pressure.
The researchers wanted to find out if the ALA content of walnuts contributes to improvements in heart health or if some other components of walnuts, such as polyphenols, might help control blood pressure among people at risk of cardiovascular disease.
Biggest killer of US adults
Cardiovascular disease causes the most deaths among adults in the United States. A 2019 study by the American Heart Association (AHA) reported that 840,000 people in the U.S. died from cardiovascular disease in 2016 alone.
That study also found that almost half of all U.S. adults have some form of cardiovascular disease.
The AHA suggest that the increase in the number of people that doctors say have high blood pressure has driven these high levels of cardiovascular disease.
However, the AHA acknowledge that part of this rise in the number of people with high blood pressure is a result of the 2017 change to the AHA/American College of Cardiology hypertension guidelines. The amended version redefined high blood pressure as a reading of 130/80 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), rather than the previous 140/90 mm Hg.
