最新研究发现，吃整颗的核桃有助于降血压。
Walnuts contain a type of omega-3 called alpha-linolenic acid, which is heart healthy.
核桃含有一种叫做α-亚麻酸(ALA)的植物性omega-3脂肪酸，对心脏健康。
People in the study swapped out 5 percent of their saturated fat intake for walnuts to achieve the benefit.
为达到实验效果，研究人员把5%的饱和脂肪摄取量换成了核桃。
After eating the walnuts for six weeks, their blood pressure was lower.
吃了六个星期的核桃后，参与者的血压普遍降低了。
Reducing saturated fat intake helps, but there is something special about walnuts, explained Professor Penny Kris-Etherton, study co-author:
这项研究的主要作者佩妮·克里斯-埃瑟顿教授解释说，减少饱和脂肪摄入量有助于减少核桃的摄入量，但核桃有一些特别之处：
“When participants ate whole walnuts, they saw greater benefits than when they consumed a diet with a similar fatty acid profile as walnuts without eating the nut itself.
“当参与者吃完整的核桃时，他们得到的益处要比他们在不吃核桃，只吃与核桃脂肪酸含量相似的食物时更大。”
So it seems like there’s a little something extra in walnuts that are beneficial — maybe their bioactive compounds, maybe the fiber, maybe something else — that you don’t get in the fatty acids alone.”
因此，核桃中似乎有一些额外的东西是有益的——可能是它们的生物活性化合物，可能是纤维，也可能是其他东西——总之不是你能从脂肪酸中获得的。
The study included 45 overweight or obese people.
这项研究包括45名参与者，均为超重或肥胖人群。
They were split into three groups and for six weeks each was fed a slightly different diet to test the effects of walnuts.
参与者被分为三组，为测试核桃的效果，各组在六周的时间内饮食比例稍有不同。
Dr Alyssa Tindall, the study’s first author, explained:
研究的第一作者Alyssa Tindall博士解释说：
“Walnuts contain alpha-linolenic acid — ALA — a plant-based omega-3 that may positively affect blood pressure.
核桃含有一种叫做α-亚麻酸(ALA)的植物性omega-3脂肪酸，可能会对血压有好处。
We wanted to see if ALA was the major contributor to these heart-healthy benefits, or if it was other bioactive component of walnuts, like polyphenols.
我们想知道ALA是否对心脏健康有益，或者是核桃的其他生物活性成分的作用，比如多酚。
We designed the study to test if these components had additive benefits.”
我们这项研究的目的，就是为了测试这些成分是否还有其他附加意义。”
The results of the study showed that reducing saturated fats helped reduce blood pressure.
研究结果表明，减少饱和脂肪有助于降血压。
However, walnuts produced the greatest drop in blood pressure.
然而，吃核桃降血压更有效。
