In a new study published on 25 September 2008 in the journal Nutrition and Cancer, researchers at Marshall University have discovered that snack-sized quantities of walnuts slow cancer growth in mice. W. Elaine Hardman, PhD. said "When we fed the mice walnuts, the growth rate of the tumors they had was dramatically suppressed".

The mice ate a diet which gave them the equivalent of two servings of walnuts per day. Tumors in the walnut-fed group took twice as long to double in size as tumors in the control group, which mimicked a typical American diet. "It's always good to find something that will slow the growth of tumors without being toxic chemotherapy", said Hardman, who has spent 15 years studying the role of diet in cancer.

Walnuts have at least three components that could account for their cancer-slowing effect, Hardman said. They are high in omega-3 fatty acids, which have been shown to slow cancer growth. They also include antioxidants and phytosterols, both of which have shown cancer-slowing effects in other studies.

The California Agricultural Statistics Service (CASS) today released its Objective Estimate on the 2008 California walnut crop. The estimate is 375,000 tons. This compares very closely with the subjective estimate established in late July by the Independent Handlers Coalition of 372,000 tons.

If the estimates are correct, the 2008 crop will break the old record of 354,000 tons set in 2005.

The California Walnut Board released its final inventory number today on the 2007 crop. The final inventory is 32,141 tons. This is slightly below the projected final inventory number of 35,000 tons. This places the final inventory at 8.8% of the previous year's available supply (which includes the 2007 crop of 323,000 tons plus the final inventory from the 2006 crop of 40,578 tons). This is the lowest inventory as a percentage of the previous year's supply in at least the past thirty years.