A healthy snack? A cup of green tea and a small cup of dried fruit, walnuts, cashews and, in particular, hazelnuts! But hazelnuts can also be added to salads, muesli or yogurt. In fact, hazelnuts are not only tasty but they are also able to fight chronic inflammation processes, as evidenced by a research published a few months ago by a team of the University of Tor Vergata, Rome (Di Renzo et al, Oxid Med Cell Longev., 2019).
Inflammation is associated with obesity and plays an essential role in the onset and progression of diseases such as diabetes, depression or cancers. Hazelnuts are considered an excellent anti-inflammatory food, since they are a rich source of unsaturated fatty acids, vitamin E, phytosterols, polyphenols and selenium. The research recruited 24 healthy volunteers who were asked to eat 40 grams of hazelnuts a day for 6 weeks. After this period, the researchers analyzed the blood and body weight of the participants in the research. What emerged is that the intake of hazelnuts did not cause a weight gain. Scientists think that this is due to the fact that hazelnuts induce an increase in satiety and thermogenesis, namely the body's ability to use a part of the available energy for basic functions such as digestion and usage of nutrients. Not only that, on the basis of blood tests and oxidation and inflammation markers, hazelnuts have proven to be able to counteract inflammation and oxidative stress, thus reducing the risk of developing chronic diseases.
