Walnuts & Almonds for Healthy Heart Rhythm

In recent years, the FDA has recommended adding nuts to your diet to promote a healthy heart. Studies have supported findings that nuts, such as walnuts and almonds in particular, can lower LDL cholesterol levels and stave off hardening of the arteries. Because these nuts provide similar benefits to adding heart-healthy fish to their diet, people are encouraged to add them to their snacks.

Heart Arrhythmias

Heart arrhythmias account for many sudden deaths each year in the United States and around the world. Because almonds and walnuts promote healthy muscles, including that of your heart, they tend to support the sustainability of healthy heart rhythms. Unsaturated fats found in almonds and walnuts such as alpha-linolenic acid, ward off fatal disturbances in the heart muscle's normal rhythm.

Lower Your Risk

In the early 80s, researchers followed the diets of more than 20,000 male doctors for 17 years. The physicians who consumed nuts two or more times per week were up to 30 percent less likely to die from heart disease. They were almost half as likely to succumb to sudden death caused by irregular heart rhythms.

Fats and L-arginine

Surprisingly, the fats in nuts aren't something you should be overly concerned with. On the contrary, the fats found in walnuts and almonds protect the heart. The omega-3 fatty acids contained in nuts are as beneficial as those in salmon and other fish, if not more so. In conjunction with the "good" fats found in nuts, l-arginine is also present in them. L-arginine can make the walls of your artieries more flexible and less likely to be given to blood clots.

Vitamins and Minerals

Magnesium is essential to your diet if you want to keep your heart healthy. Magnesium is responsible for building strong muscles and you should keep in mind that your heart is the most important muscle in your body. Magnesium also helps your blood vessels open up when your body needs better blood flow. Walnuts and almonds contain high amounts of heart-healthy magnesium. It should be noted that many people are magnesium deficient, raising the chances for their becoming susceptible to heart disease.

Potassium aids smooth muscle contraction and is found in walnuts and almonds. If you tend to skimp on vitamins, you can add these nuts to your diet to improve your chances of receiving the minerals your heart needs to function properly.

How Much Should You Eat

Nuts can be as much as 80 percent fat. While these fats are the healthy sort it is never healthy to go overboard on the calories. Eating nuts in moderation will benefit you more than indulging in too much of a good thing. According to the FDA in a letter of enforcement discretion (Docket No 02P-0292) dated March 4, 2004, eating 1.5 ounces of nuts like walnuts and almonds can help to minimally improve heart health. Adding nuts without cutting out the bad fats will sabotage these efforts since they are intended to be a substitute, not an addition to bad fats.