Eating a handful of nuts provides more antioxidants than the daily serving of fruits and vegetables, say the authors of a study from the University of Scranton that has compared the amount of these compounds present in nine types of nuts and roasts.
The results, published in the journal Food and Function , indicate that walnuts have twice as many polyphenols, a type of antioxidant widely distributed in the plant kingdom, than other nuts. These compounds act directly on "bad cholesterol" or LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein) in such a way that they protect the heart and prevent arteriosclerosis. The study has also analyzed the consumption of nuts in the United States and Europe, indicating that approximately eight percent of the antioxidants that an adult includes in their daily diet comes from nuts.
The authors indicate that these data should not reduce the consumption of fruits and vegetables in the diet of consumers, but what they should do is add nuts to it. "It is a source of fiber, with high quality proteins, an excellent source of alpha-linolenic acid and also has high antioxidant power", they affirm.
