Scientists from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health have concluded that those people who eat about 28g of nuts a day are likely to live longer and be healthier than those who don’t
In the first major study which took thirty years to complete and involved in depth research and analysis on the eating habits of 76,000 women and 42,000 men, scientists say the results are strongly consistent with existing observational and clinical trial data to support the benefits of nut consumption on many chronic diseases
The most obvious benefit was a reduction of 29 percent in the death from heart disease and an 11% reduction in the risk of dying from cancer. Previous studies have showed links between eating nuts and lower risk for many disease including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, gallstone, colon cancer and diverticulitis. Consumption of nuts has also been associated with lower cholesterol, reductions in inflammation, oxidative stress body fat and insulin resistance.
The researchers found that the reduced risk of death was similar for both nuts that grow on trees such as cashews, Brazils almonds and macadamias and peanuts which grow under the ground. They point out that while the study was not designed to examine cause and effect and cannot conclude eating more nuts causes people to live longer, the analysis shows that the more nuts people ate the less likely they were to die over a 30 year period.
