Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
Go nuts and lose belly fat
Almonds can help you lose belly fat, a recent study shows. / Korea Times file
By Kim Bo-eun
The next time you sit in front of the TV you might want to grab handful of almonds instead of high carb snacks.
Given that a handful of almonds and a muffin have the same amount of calories, the former can help reduce abdominal fat, according to recent research.
A study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association showed that almond consumption as part of a healthy diet resulted in notable improvements in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and cholesterol levels as well as decreased abdominal fat.
Increasing concentrations of LDL particles is associated with health risks such as cardiovascular disease and strokes.
“Our research found that substituting almonds for a high-carbohydrate snack improved numerous heart health risk factors, including the new finding that eating almonds reduced belly fat,” said lead researcher Claire Berryman. “Choosing almonds as a snack may be a simple way to help fight the onset of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases.”
For the study, 52 obese middle-aged participants were divided into two groups. Over 12 weeks, both groups followed cholesterol-lowering diets, but one group ate whole natural almonds for snacks while the other group ate banana muffins, which had the same amount of calories. The group that ate the almonds had decreased belly fat, cholesterol levels, LDL and other blood fats.