If you are diabetic, walnuts may be a good food for you to eat. A randomized, controlled, single-blind study appearing in Diabetes Care (February 2010 33:227-232) looked at the relationship between walnut consumption and cardiovascular health in diabetics. The mean age of the 24 subjects was 58, and they were all type 2 diabetics. The subjects underwent testing of their vascular endothelium (cells lining the blood vessel walls) by measuring flow-mediated dilation.

 Flow mediated dilation (FMD) is a method used to diagnose early stages of atherosclerosis. Problem with the endothelium (lining of the blood vessels) is considered to be one of the early signs of atherosclerosis; and that is measured with FMD.

 The subjects were placed on either an ad libitum diet or an ad libitum diet supplemented with 56 grams of walnuts per day. At the end of eight weeks, it was found that the group receiving the walnuts had improved endothelial function as measured by FMD.