Year in Review: Top 10 News Stories on Fats in 2006

A handful of walnuts can help protect our arteries against the "shock" of a high-saturated-fat meal. Volunteers were given two meals, one week apart, each consisting of a salami-and-cheese sandwich on white bread and a full-fat yogurt. For one meal, half the volunteers were given eight shelled walnuts with their sandwich and yogurt, while the other half were given five teaspoons of olive oil. For the second meal, those who were given walnuts the first time were given olive oil, and vice versa.

Both the olive oil and the walnuts reduced the sudden onset of inflammation and oxidation in the participants’ arteries after eating the high-fat meal. But the arteries of those eating the walnuts stayed more flexible than those consuming the olive oil—regardless of the volunteers’ cholesterol level. Read More.

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