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Posted on Dec 10, 2015, 6 a.m.
A diet including walnuts may reduce the risk, delay onset, slow the progression of, or prevent Alzheimer's Disease, in a lab animal model.
A good source of numerous vitamins and minerals and the only nut that contains a significant source of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), walnuts have a high antioxidant content (3.7 mmol/ounce). Abha Chauhan, from the New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities (New York, USA), and colleagues employed a mouse model to examine the effects of dietary supplementation with 6% or 9% walnuts, which are equivalent to 1 ounce and 1.5 ounces per day, respectively, of walnuts in humans. Observing that: “the … mice receiving the diets with 6% or 9% walnuts … showed a significant improvement in memory, learning ability, anxiety, and motor development compared to the … mice on the control diet ,” the study authors write that: “ These findings suggest that dietary supplementation with walnuts may have a beneficial effect in reducing the risk, delaying the onset, or slowing the progression of, or preventing [Alzheimer's Disease].”
Muthaiyah B, Essa MM, Lee M, Chauhan V, Kaur K, Chauhan A. “Dietary supplementation of walnuts improves memory deficits and learning skills in transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.” J Alzheimers Dis., 42(4): 1397-1405.
