Eating walnuts can improve total cholesterol levels.

Eating fish can improve triglyceride levels.

I tried a great fish recipe the other day – salmon, lightly coated with all-natural honey mustard, and topped with crushed walnuts.

Not only was it delicious, but it was a dynamic duo for heart health, as walnuts and fish protect the heart in different ways.

We all know how beneficial nuts and fish are for the heart, as they both contain high levels of monounsaturated and omega-3 fats.  But few of us know how each protects the heart, or more accurately, in what way they protect the heart.  A recent study in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition illustrates the differentiation in protective qualities with nuts and fish.

Researchers from the University of California attempted to discover this when they had 25 volunteers come in and agree to eat one of three strict diets.  These weren’t the healthiest of honchos, though. All of them had some form of hyperlipademia, which is basically a condition wherein a person has an unusually high amount of lipids (fatty acids) circulating in his or her blood.

The participants varied as far as how severe their condition was, so the researchers randomly assigned the volunteers to a diet of no fish or walnuts, a diet of walnuts but no fish (eating about an ounce worth every day for four weeks), or a diet of fish but no walnuts (eating about 3.5 ounces of salmon twice a week for four weeks).

Not surprisingly, the group that didn’t eat the fish or the walnuts showed no improvement in blood cholesterol levels.  What was a bit of a surprise, though, was that those who ate the fish didn’t show much of an improvement in cholesterol levels, either.  The only ones that showed improvement there was the walnut-eating crew, as their total cholesterol levels and LDL cholesterol levels dropped compared to those who didn’t eat fish or walnuts.

But fear not, fish fans.  Those who ate the fish showed marked improvements of their own, only theirs was in the triglyceride category (remember, triglycerides are different from cholesterol).  Those who ate the fish showed lower triglyceride levels after four weeks, and their HDL cholesterol levels increased (the good kind).

So the moral of the story is this:  If you really want to mount a nutritional attack on cardiovascular disease, you have to go at it in a fashion similar to Marvin Gaye’s timeless tune:   It takes two, baby.  Only this time it’s not “me and you,” but salmon and walnuts.

Source:
nutraingredients-usa.com