Effects of walnut consumption on blood lipids and other cardiovascular risk factors: a meta-analysis and systematic review Export

@article{citeulike:4916876, abstract = {Background: Consumption of nuts has been associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease events and death. Walnuts in particular have a unique profile: they are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, which may improve blood lipids and other cardiovascular disease risk factors. Objectives: We aimed to conduct a literature review and a meta-analysis to combine the results from several trials and to estimate the effect of walnuts on blood lipids. Design: Literature databases were searched for published trials that compared a specifically walnut-enhanced diet with a control diet. We conducted a random-effects meta-analysis of weighted mean differences (WMDs) of lipid outcomes. Results: Thirteen studies representing 365 participants were included in the analysis. Diets lasted 4-24 wk with walnuts providing 10-24\% of total calories. When compared with control diets, diets supplemented with walnuts resulted in a significantly greater decrease in total cholesterol and in LDL-cholesterol concentrations (total cholesterol: WMD = -10.3 mg/dL, P < 0.001; LDL cholesterol: WMD = -9.2 mg/dL, P < 0.001). HDL cholesterol and triglycerides were not significantly affected by walnut diets more than with control diets (HDL cholesterol: WMD = -0.2, P = 0.8; triglycerides: WMD = -3.9, P = 0.3). Other results reported in the trials indicated that walnuts provided significant benefits for certain antioxidant capacity and inflammatory markers and had no adverse effects on body weight [body mass index (kg/m2): WMD = -0.4, P = 0.5; weight (kg): WMD = -0.05, P = 0.97]. Conclusions: Overall, high-walnut-enriched diets significantly decreased total and LDL cholesterol for the duration of the short-term trials. Larger and longer-term trials are needed to address the effects of walnut consumption on cardiovascular risk and body weight. 10.3945/ajcn.2009.27457}, author = {Banel, Deirdre K. and Hu, Frank B.}, citeulike-article-id = {4916876}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.2009.27457}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/90/1/56?etoc}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19458020}, citeulike-linkout-3 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=19458020}, day = {1}, doi = {10.3945/ajcn.2009.27457}, journal = {Am J Clin Nutr}, keywords = {blood\_lipids, walnut}, month = {July}, number = {1}, pages = {56--63}, posted-at = {2009-11-01 10:14:07}, priority = {2}, title = {Effects of walnut consumption on blood lipids and other cardiovascular risk factors: a meta-analysis and systematic review}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.2009.27457}, volume = {90}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:4916876 L3 - citeulike-article-id:4916876 N2 - Background: Consumption of nuts has been associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease events and death. Walnuts in particular have a unique profile: they are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, which may improve blood lipids and other cardiovascular disease risk factors. Objectives: We aimed to conduct a literature review and a meta-analysis to combine the results from several trials and to estimate the effect of walnuts on blood lipids. Design: Literature databases were searched for published trials that compared a specifically walnut-enhanced diet with a control diet. We conducted a random-effects meta-analysis of weighted mean differences (WMDs) of lipid outcomes. Results: Thirteen studies representing 365 participants were included in the analysis. Diets lasted 4-24 wk with walnuts providing 10-24% of total calories. When compared with control diets, diets supplemented with walnuts resulted in a significantly greater decrease in total cholesterol and in LDL-cholesterol concentrations (total cholesterol: WMD = -10.3 mg/dL, P < 0.001; LDL cholesterol: WMD = -9.2 mg/dL, P < 0.001). HDL cholesterol and triglycerides were not significantly affected by walnut diets more than with control diets (HDL cholesterol: WMD = -0.2, P = 0.8; triglycerides: WMD = -3.9, P = 0.3). Other results reported in the trials indicated that walnuts provided significant benefits for certain antioxidant capacity and inflammatory markers and had no adverse effects on body weight [body mass index (kg/m2): WMD = -0.4, P = 0.5; weight (kg): WMD = -0.05, P = 0.97]. Conclusions: Overall, high-walnut-enriched diets significantly decreased total and LDL cholesterol for the duration of the short-term trials. Larger and longer-term trials are needed to address the effects of walnut consumption on cardiovascular risk and body weight. 10.3945/ajcn.2009.27457 IS - 1 JF - Am J Clin Nutr EP - 63 TI - Effects of walnut consumption on blood lipids and other cardiovascular risk factors: a meta-analysis and systematic review VL - 90 SP - 56 KW - blood_lipids KW - walnut AU - Banel, Deirdre AU - Hu, Frank PY - 2009/07/01/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.2009.27457 ER -