A classic example of the news media reading more into research results than is actually there comes from this week's American Heart Association meeting in Dallas, Texas. The wire services carried a story that nuts and oats made a recipe for a strong heart. However, this report was based on two separate studies that were completely different in design and purpose.
The presentation on nuts was based on results from the Physicians' Health Study, which is following 22,000 male doctors who were healthy when they began the study. It was found that those who ate nuts had the lowest rate of heart disease. The media report states that neither the type nor amount of nuts was recorded, yet the same article states that those who ate the most nuts had the lowest risk of dying from heart disease. Until the data are reported in a medical journal, there will be confusion on this point. The researchers also concluded that the active factor in nuts was the omega-3 fatty acids, but an observational study of this nature cannot be sure of such a conclusion because nuts contain other nutrients that may be involved, not all nuts have the same fatty acids, and nuts may displace foods that have a negative effect on heart disease.
The oat study was an intervention in 43 overweight people who were put on a low calorie diet, half of whom got oats and the other half, wheat cereal. Those who ate the oats had a greater drop in cholesterol (old news) and blood pressure (new news). But a key point not addressed was if there was a difference in weight loss between the two groups.
HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: While nuts and oats are both healthy foods which we should probably eat more, these two reports do not give any evidence that combining the two will have any special effects. It is logical to assume that there could be an additive effect but that will only be determined by a study designed to answer that hypothesis.
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