Adding walnuts to a low-fat diet improves lipid profile for patients with type 2 diabetes, according to the results of a randomized study published in the December issue of Diabetes Care .

Linda C. Tapsell, PhD, from the National Centre of Excellence in Functional Foods, University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia, and colleagues. "There are mechanistic explanations for the influence of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) on insulin action and energy metabolism, and cohort studies of women in the U.S. have demonstrated a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes with dietary PUFA replacing trans or saturated fatty acids (SFAs)."

Walnuts have high concentrations of polyunsaturated fats along with antioxidants, and since these qualities may be particularly important in patients with the metabolic syndrome, the authors focused their study on patients with type 2 diabetes.

Erythrocyte biomarkers of dietary intake confirmed higher dietary polyunsaturated fat-to-saturated fat ratio and intakes of omega-3 fatty acids in the walnut group. Compared with the two other treatment groups, the walnut group had a significantly greater increase in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol-to-total cholesterol ratio and in HDL . The walnut group also had a 10% reduction in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.

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