Kumari Palany & Co

Daily consumption of walnuts may reduce risk of colon cancer, says study

Posted on: 04/Jun/2016 9:53:32 AM
A study published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research has said that walnuts reduces the risk of the disease. The study was conducted by researchers from UConn Health and The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine.

Researchers found that eating walnuts may change gut bacteria in a way that suppresses colon cancer. They fed mice 7 - 10.5 percent of their total calories as walnuts. Results showed that fewer mice developed colon cancers. This effect was more so in male mice. These male mice had 2.3 times fewer tumours. They were fed an equivalent to a human eating about an ounce of walnuts a day. 

Say the researchers, The results show for the first time that walnut consumption may reduce colon tumour development and may also act as a probiotic to make the colon healthy, which in turn offers protection against colon tumours.

The mice were split into two groups. One group ate a standard lab mouse chow, while the other group ate a chow that captured the nutritional profile of the typical American diet. Subsets of both groups were supplemented with walnuts. Interestingly, male mice fed the Western diet fortified with 10.5 percent walnuts showed the greatest decrease in colon tumours compared with mice fed no walnuts.

The researchers say that more testing needs to be done in humans before walnuts can be unequivocally recommended as a cancer-prevention agent.