Research Abstracts
Potential use of nuts for the prevention and treatment of coronary heart disease: From natural to functional foods.
de Lorgeril, M., P. Salen, F. Laporte, F. Boucher, J. De Leiri, 2001. Potential use of nuts for the prevention and treatment of coronary heart disease: From natural to functional foods. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 11:362-71.
This editorial discusses the research on nuts and coronary heart disease (CHD) and suggests that before using food technology to develop new and artificial foods to help patients follow what they think would be an “optimal diet,” scientists and physicians should first refer to the traditional diets of populations with low CHD rates. Studying the effect of natural or whole foods, such as nuts, should be a priority. According to the authors, natural foods are still the preferred functional foods because they may provide a better nutrient profile than any recomposed food, and the proportions of the various nutrients and non-nutrients are the result of a natural, and biologically compatible, evolution and not of an industrial process.