"Walnuts https have long been touted as a healthy whole food but new research just upped the homely nuts reputation another notch. In a study by researchers from the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona and Loma Linda University more than  older healthy adults were asked to add either a handful of walnuts to their daily diets or to follow their normal diet without eating nuts. After one year both groups experienced minimal body weight triglyceride and HDL cholesterol changes but the walnuteaters had significant reductions in LDL cholesterol bad cholesterol compared to the nutfree control group. The research shows the wellknown cholesterollowering https effect of eating walnuts works equally well in the elderly even in the long term the authors reported at the Experimental Biology conference in San Diego. Given walnuts are a highenergy food a prevailing concern has been that their longterm consumption might be associated with weight gain said study author Dr. Emilio Ros director of the Lipid Clinic Endocrinology  Nutrition Service at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona in a press statement. Its encouraging to see that eating walnuts may benefit this particular population. Other walnut studies presented at the conference funded in part by the California Walnut Commission suggested the omega fatty acidrich nut may also benefit gut bacteria https and help reduce inflammation. Elisabetta Politi nutrition director of the Duke Diet and Fitness Center at Duke University said We advocate that people eat nuts https including walnuts because they are high in healthy fat low in carbohydrates and a good source of protein. Politi said a serving of walnuts is about  halves which adds up to  calories. Theyre rich in fiber folic acid and potassium. Walnuts are especially heart healthy because they have more polyunsaturated fat than almonds cashews peanuts pecans pistachios and macadamia nuts per serving. Walnut oil https can be a good alternative too in dressings and for light basting Politi said. Its still important to remember portion control especially for people on weight loss programs warned Politi. Try a serving in a snack bag. Eat walnuts mindfully she said."