Walnuts for Prostate Health

Eating walnuts daily appears to protect against prostate cancer, at least in mice. A new study from the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio showed that after researchers injected the animals with human prostate cancer cells, tumors started to grow. But of the 19 mice that received a walnut-enriched diet, only three developed tumors compared to 14 of 32 mice whose diets did not include walnuts. What's more, the average size of the prostate tumors that grew in the walnut-fed mice was about one fourth the average size of the tumors that occurred in the mice on the "control" diet that contained no walnuts. The amount of walnuts (pulverized into a fine powder) the mice consumed was equivalent to a human serving of about two ounces or two handfuls a day, reported study senior author Russel Reiter, Ph.D., professor of cellular and structural biology. The study was published in the July 2013 issue of Cancer Investigation.