2013 marks 20th anniversary of clinical research on walnuts

In 1993, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published landmark research from Loma Linda University showing the benefits of walnuts to heart health. Since then, 91 studies worldwide have linked numerous potential benefits from walnuts in the areas of heart health, diabetes, weight management and cognitive function.  Additional research has been investigating the potential benefits of walnuts on various types of cancer in animal models (the results are indicators that are used as background and to formulate hypotheses for other studies); this includes eight studies co-funded by the American Institute for Cancer Research, resulting in $488,000 in grants supporting walnuts health research.

Because of these studies, walnuts are now seen as a “super food” that offers good fat, rather than one that is detrimental to health.

Other milestones have included:

• In 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) affirmed a qualified health claim for walnuts, one of the first for a whole food.  "Supportive but not conclusive research shows that eating 1.5 ounces of walnuts per day, as part of a low saturated fat and low cholesterol diet and not resulting in increased caloric intake may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.  See nutrition information for fat content."²
• In 2011, the American Heart Association certified walnuts as a heart-healthy food with its Heart-Check mark, an icon that consumers trust.
• In 2012, walnuts were the only nut to receive health claims from the European Union. Walnuts received four: one specific to walnuts and blood flow, and three generic health claims.
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Joan Sabate , M.D., Dr.PH., Chair of the Nutrition Department at Loma Linda University, served as principal investigator of the 1993 study³ that directly linked the benefit of walnut consumption to serum cholesterol in a small group of healthy men. "Twenty years ago we released the first study showing the healAir Jordan XIII 13 Shoes