New research indicates that consuming nuts at least twice a week could reduce the risk of heart disease.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Researchers at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston studied the nut intake of 21,000 male doctor volunteers who took part in the US Physicians’ Heath Study, launched in 1982. The researchers reported a 47% lower risk of sudden cardiac death in participants who ate an ounce of nuts at least twice per week compared with participants who ate no nuts at all.
Dr Christine Albert also reported a 30% lower risk of coronary heart disease death among the nut eaters, although this correlation did not apply for nonfatal heart attacks.
“If the observed associations between dietary habits such as nut and fish consumption are causal, then these dietary interventions could be applied with little risk,” Albert wrote.
Many types of nuts are known to be a healthy source of unsaturated fats, magnesium and vitamin E, and are also a staple of the Mediterranean diet, known to give rise to a lower-than-average incidence of heart disease.
