X-Message-Number: 10687
From: "Olaf Henny" <>
Subject: Re: CryoNet #10654; Nuts
Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1998 21:17:58 -0800

In Message #10654 on Oct 29 Doug Skrecky forwarded the following
message:

>Subject: dietary treatment to avoid a fatal heart attack
>
> A funny thing happened during the Adventist Health Study relating diet
>to mortality, in a group with one seventh the heart attack risk of the
>general population, and who already live 7 years longer. The big finding
>was the largely unsuspected health benefits of nuts. Here's some data from
>(Arch Intern Med 152: 1416-1424 1992).
>
> Relative Risk
>Food Item frequency of Fatal CHD
>nuts <1/wk 1
> 1-4/wk 0.77
> >4/wk 0.67
>
>legumes ... (snip)
> This nut/longevity relation was later found to hold even in old age.
>Here's some data from those over 84 years of age. (Arch Intern Med 157:
>2249-2258 1997)
>
>nuts <1/wk 1
> 1-4/wk 0.71
> >4/wk 0.55
>
> I've looked at the data comparing the effects on lipids of various types
>of nuts. The best results seem to be with almond ingestion, which results
>in a better HDL/LDL ratio than with olive oil. (J Am Col Nutr 17(3):
>285-290 1998) It's probably a good idea to consume some nuts on a regular
>basis - particularly almonds.
I have heard similar assertions made with respect to a diet containing nuts
previously from several different sources. Unfortunately none of them made
any reference to the amount of nuts consumed.
Clearly a peanut/day would meet and even exceed the frequency
requirement/week, but would surely not lead to any measurable benefit. Many
of us eat from time to time buns covered with sunflower, sesame and flax
seeds and thereby ingest small amounts of "nuts", but are these amounts
enough to count? I eat most days at least a handful of mixed nuts and also
use them for cooking.
This brings me to a couple of my standard recipes: Most of us love the taste
of bacon/ham and eggs, but don't consider it exactly "good for us and
consequently avoid it. Well here is my tasty ersatz (it may be a little rich
in cals, so you CRadherents will have to close your eyes, while you read
this : :)
In a 8" none-stick pan I toss about 1 tbsp sunflower seeds (bought
pre-roasted from the supermarket) and about half as much each of split
almonds and flax seeds. I roast these in medium heat until the split almonds
turn a pale golden on the edges (if you roast them too long the flax seeds
start 'hopping" out of the pan like flees :). Then I crack an egg over the
whole thing, and put my breakfast plate upside-down as a lid over the pan.
When the egg is done, I can serve it on a nice warm plate, so it will be
good and warm to the last bite.
Rice:
The healthiest way to eat it is probably the East Asian way: The sticky
stuff clomped together.
But this does not swallow very easily. In the Middle East the like to
slather butter al over it, - and there goes the heart. Similarly in some
European countries they add gravy, which also usually contains quite a bit
of fat.
The method I have found to make rice very palatable at very low nutritional
cost is to add a few split almonds in the water, before I heat it up and
dice dried pineapple and add it about 5 - 10 minutes before the rice is
done. I use about 1/3rd slice of pineapple per serving. Nice with skinless
and boneless chicken breast and peas.
I have also tried dried apricots, but my wife and I prefer pineapple.

Best,

Olaf
>

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