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Issue date: Nov. 13-15, 1998
In this article:
Eat holiday nuts for added health
Alcohol and weight gain
Sources for this article
Introduction
Turkey 2000: Updating the classics
Recipes, recipes, recipes
Jean Carper's recipe archive
Holiday nuts are good for you  ating almonds is good for your heart, says Gene Spiller, director of the
Health Research and Studies Center in Los Altos, Calif. His new study of 45 people
with high cholesterol found adding almonds to a diet low in saturated fat
significantly lowered bad LDL cholesterol, but not good HDL cholesterol. Adding equal
calories of olive oil did not reduce cholesterol, and adding butter and cheese, not
surprisingly, raised cholesterol.Almonds are rich in monounsaturated-type fat,
fiber and "phytochemicals," such as plant sterols and saponins, all known to cut the
risk of heart disease. Contrary to popular belief, nuts, like other plant foods, are
cholesterol-free. But aren't nuts fattening? No. Test subjects ate about 3 1/2
ounces of almonds daily for a month but didn't gain weight. Another recent study
showed that dieters who snacked before meals on peanuts (to blunt the appetite) lost
just as much weight as those who snacked on pretzels or potato chips. "It's a
misconception that eating nuts makes you fat," Spiller says.
Go to topDo alcohol calories count?  urprisingly, drinking may not make you fat. There's no consistent
evidence that calories in alcohol add weight - or that cutting down on alcohol causes
weight loss, says biochemist William Lands, Ph.D., of the National Institute on
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. "It's mysterious," he says. The NIAAA is undertaking a
study to understand why alcohol calories apparently do not increase body mass the way
food calories do.
SCIENTIFIC SOURCES FOR THIS COLUMN Do Alcohol Calories Count?
-- Lands, WE. Alcohol, calories and appetite. Vitam Horm 1998;
54:31-49.
-- Lands, Alcohol and energy intake. Am. J Clin Nutr
1995;62(suppl): 1101S-6S.
Almonds are Good for You
-- Spiller, Gene A. Journal of American College of Nutrition; 1998; 17(3): 285-290.
-- Rainey, Charlene. Nutrition Today, 1997;32(4): 157.
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