I know I keep banging on about eating nuts – and some new research adds scientific weight to my nagging.
People who regularly eat nuts live longer, according to the largest study ever undertaken. So, with the Christmas nibbles out, what more excuse do you need?
The findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggest the greatest benefit was shown in people chewing on a daily portion. That’s enough for a small handful.
Mind you, the US team say nut eaters are likely to have healthy lifestyles in the first place, but nuts themselves are contributing to their longer lifespan.
This study monitored nearly 120,000 people for 30 years. The findings showed the more often people ate nuts, the less likely they were to die during the study.
People eating nuts once a week were 11% less likely to have died than those who never ate them. The more nuts people ate, the lower their risk became. Up to four portions a week was linked to a 13% reduction in deaths and a daily handful of nuts cut the death rate during the study by 20%.
This life-enhancing effect extended to cancer as well as heart attacks.
Lead researcher Dr Charles Fuchs, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute said: “The most obvious benefit was a reduction of 29% in deaths from heart disease, but we also saw a significant reduction of 11% in the risk of dying from cancer.”
Eating nuts was linked to a healthier lifestyle, including being less likely to smoke or be overweight and more likely to take regular exercise.
What is it in nuts that confers such wide-ranging and life-saving effects? They are little parcels of tightly packed minerals, vitamins and antioxidants like selenium, omega 3 fatty acids and folate.
The power of nuts lowers the body’s cholesterol levels and damps down inflammation and insulin resistance.
Victoria Taylor, senior dietician at the British Heart Foundation said: “The study showed an association between regularly eating a small handful of nuts and a lower risk of death from coronary heart disease.
“This study doesn’t prove cause and effect so we need further research to confirm if it’s the nuts that protect heart health.”
Nevertheless because nuts contain healthy unsaturated fats, protein and a range of vitamins and minerals, they make much better snacks than chocolate, cakes and biscuits.
Choose plain, unsalted ones rather than honeyed, salted, dry- roasted or chocolate covered to keep salt and sugar intake down.