Could Eating Nuts Lower Mortality Risk?
A diet high in nuts is associated with lower risk of total mortality and death from cardiovascular disease, according to a new study led by Vanderbilt University researchers.
The authors studied 71,764 black and white men and women living in the southern United States with mostly low incomes, as well as 134,265 Chinese people, including 1 cohort of men and another of women, living in Shanghai, China. The American cohorts were in 12 southern U.S. states, with more than 85,000 participants enrolled between the years 2002 and 2009, ranging in age from 40 to 79. The Chinese cohorts were between the ages 40 and 74, taking part in the study from 1996 and 2006.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
RELATED CONTENT
Can Olive Oil and Nuts Reverse Metabolic Syndrome
Nuts May Help Lower and Stabilize Blood Sugar Levels
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Both the American and Chinese populations were asked detailed questions pertaining to their diets, including the types of food they ate and with what frequency, with the authors taking measure of nut, peanut, and peanut butter intake. Across all 3 cohorts, the investigators found a link between nut intake and reduced mortality and cardiovascular disease-related death risk.
More specifically, they found a 21% lower risk of death from any cause among those eating the most peanuts in the U.S. cohort of people. In the Chinese groups, high nut intake was connected to a 17% lower risk of overall death.
William Blot, PhD, a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and a co-author of the study, points out that the findings arise from observational studies as opposed to clinical trials. As such, factors other than nut consumption may have contributed to the lower risks he and his colleagues found in their study.
“Nevertheless, this association of reduced overall and heart-disease mortality risk with eating nuts has been reported elsewhere,” he says, noting a clinical trial evaluating a Mediterranean diet supplemented with a high nut intake, for example. “So, a consistent pattern is beginning to emerge.”
While the results are not definitive, “primary care physicians could note that recent scientific studies have suggested that eating nuts several times per week may help lower risk for cardiovascular disease,” says Blot, “and that nuts—peanuts or other nuts—can be part of a healthy diet.”
—Mark McGraw
Reference
Luu H, Blot W, et al. Prospective Evaluation of the Association of Nut/Peanut Consumption With Total and Cause-Specific Mortality. JAMA Intern Med. 2015.