Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Walnuts ward off breast cancer in mice
A recent study conducted on mice indicates that walnuts may decrease the chances of developing breast cancer. Mice were bred to develop breast cancer within 6 months, were split into two groups--one was fed a normal, walnut-free diet and the other received a highly walnut intensive diet. After about 5 months, every single regular dieted mouse had developed cancer but only about 50% of the walnuty mice showed signs. Not only did the walnut diet appear to reduce the chances of getting breast cancer, but it also seemed to slow the progression. Scientists involved with the study believe that these results could be attributed to 3 nutrients within walnuts: omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and phytosterols which promote heart and brain health, protect against free radicals and reduce bad cholesterol, respectively. The results of this study have yet to be expanded to humans. There are other benefits to eating walnuts, but they are also high in calories and can lead to weight gain.
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2 comments:
This is very interesting. On a side note, it seems that whenever something is about to be tested on humans (in regards to health experiments and studies) mice are always used first as dummies. I don't know that this is just me being ignorant and stupid, but I never knew that mice could develop breast cancer. I wonder if there are any other foods, besides walnuts, that could reduce the risk of breast cancer (that weren't as fatty as walnuts.)
On a less scientific note, I am beginning to feel that humans create more of the problems and that more of the answers can be found in nature. At any rate, these findings about walnuts have clear implications for how their ingestion could possib;y be used to help prevent brest cancer on at-risk women. If they were not on the list already, one could add walnuts to the list of "miracle foods," which have seemingly miraculous health benefits. Although this study targeted breast cancer specifically, I would be curious to see if walnuts have an effect on other types of cancer, as well.
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