While the nuts-seafood-greens-heavy Mediterranean diet has been famous for a while now, the nuts in the diet haven’t been able to shrug off their anti-weight loss infamy.
However, a new study has found that people who eat more nuts are less likely to die of heart disease.
Published in the Journal of Nutrition on October 16, the study’s lead author, Montry Suprono, DDS, associate professor and director of the Centre for Dental Research at Loma Linda University, told a leading health magazine that nuts are nutrient-dense foods rich in unsaturated fats, which are healthy, unlike the common notion that their fat content and calorie content makes them dangerous.
“Although nuts are nutrient-dense foods rich in unsaturated fats, plant protein, fiber, and several vitamins and minerals, their high fat and calorie content has historically made people hesitant to include them regularly in their diets,” Suprono said.
For the study, Suprono and the other researchers tracked over 80,500 participants, all of whom were Seventh-Day Adventists. The team documented participants’ normal nut consumption via a questionnaire. Their everyday nut intake included almonds, cashews, walnuts, and mixed nuts, as well as total nut intake that counted tree nuts, peanuts, and peanut butter.
Authors found that over an average of 11 years, 4,258 people died from cardiovascular disease (CVD), 1529 of whom were suffering from ischemic heart disease (IHD).
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In the US, CVD is responsible for one in three deaths, making it a leading cause of mortality. IHD is the most common form of coronary artery disease, which develops when the arteries become narrow and the heart struggles to pump blood throughout the body.
The study’s data showed that people with the highest total nut intake had a 14 per cent lower risk of dying from CVD and a 19 per cent lower risk of dying from IHD, as compared with those who had the lowest.
Notably, those who ate the most tree nuts had a 27 per cent lower risk of IHD mortality. In fact, researchers also found that replacing any other food with nuts (which include tree nuts, peanuts, and peanut butter) lowered the risk of dying from CVD by 15-22 per cent, and IHD by 17-29 per cent.
What’s better, they opined, tree nuts can easily substitute processed meat, snacks, sweets, eggs, cheese and fried potatoes to help lower CVD mortality risk by 19-26 per cent, and IHD mortality risk by 20-31 per cent.
One of the few limitations of the study was that Seventh-Day Adventists are generally healthier than other Americans, since many avoid smoking and alcohol, and embrace a vegetarian diet and regular exercise.
“These features might limit how directly the findings apply to the general population,” said Suprono.
Besides being rich in unsaturated fat, which supports heart health in contrast to highly saturated fat that increases LDL cholesterol and clogs up the arteries of the heart, nuts are also rich in monounsaturated fats, which, in fact, lower LDL cholesterol.
“Good fats help to keep veins and vessels smooth, flexible, clean, and healthy,” said Eleanor Levin, MD, clinical professor of medicine and obstetric cardiologist at Stanford University.
Beyond healthy fat, nuts also contains plant sterols, magnesium, fibre, and vitamins, that may help reduce inflammation and blood pressure, said Suprono.
How many nuts should you eat?
As healthy as they are, doctors don’t suggest going overboard with eating nuts, since they are calorie dense. Additionally, not all nuts are made the same.
“Be careful not to exceed your intake of nuts,” says Suprono, adding that opting for a variety that’s unsalted and minimally processed is the way to go to limit sodium, added oils and sugars.
The best way to include them in your diet is to have them as a snack or as a topping for salads, smoothies, stews, or other meals.
“If you don’t like their taste, nut butters might be another option to consider,” says Suprono.
Lastly, the healthiest nut varieties include almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, peacs, pistachios, and walnuts, he says.
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