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The new research analyzed nearly a dozen obese patients that needed hospitalization. The volunteers agreed to drink a walnut-based smoothie every day. The drink contained 48 gr of walnuts.
Half of the volunteers were given a smoothie that contained no walnuts. After a month, the placebo group was given the walnut smoothie, while the other group was given a placebo.
Later, researchers performed MRI scans of the brains of these patients while they were showing each patient photos of their favorite junk foods. Some pictures contained healthy food, while others include no food items at all.
Walnut Consumers More Likely to Resist Food Cravings
The brain scans revealed that patients who took the daily dose of walnuts had a stronger impulse control than the placebo group. Scientists found that the walnut smoothie was linked to an increase of the part of the brain in charge of impulse control called the insula. The placebo group showed no change in the volume of the insula.
“Walnuts can alter the way our brains view food and impact our appetites,”
Said co-author of the study Olivia M. Farr.
Farr is a research associate at Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Study authors recommend a daily intake of walnuts in a healthy diet. Walnuts are known as a superfood since they can treat type 2 diabetes thanks to this food control hack.
The study appeared this week in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism and was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center.
The California Walnut Commission backed the findings but it wasn’t involved in any way in the study.
Image Source: Pixabay
