Eating half a cup of walnuts each day lowers cholesterol and reduces the risk of heart disease.
Walnuts
Research from the Hospital Clinic de Barcelona found that the snack lowered cholesterol levels by 8.5 per cent as the nuts are high in Omega 3 fatty acids - the heart-healthy fat found in oily fish.
The experts assessed 628 adults and put half of them on a diet that included daily walnut consumption. After two years, they found that the walnut eaters had modest reductions in their low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels.
High levels of LDL - which has been dubbed the 'bad cholesterol' - has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
The paper's author and nutrition expert Emilio Ros said: "Prior studies have shown that nuts in general, and walnuts in particular, are associated with lower rates of heart disease and stroke.
"One of the reasons is that they lower LDL-cholesterol levels, and now we have another reason: they improve the quality of LDL particles."