Health benefits of nut consumption

Abstract

Nuts (tree nuts and peanuts) are nutrient dense foods with complex matrices rich in unsaturated fatty and other bioactive compounds: high-quality vegetable protein, fiber, minerals, tocopherols, phytosterols, and phenolic compounds. By virtue of their unique composition, nuts are likely to beneficially impact health outcomes. Epidemiologic studies have associated nut consumption with a reduced incidence of coronary heart disease and gallstones in both genders and diabetes in women. Limited evidence also suggests beneficial effects on hypertension, cancer, and inflammation. Interventional studies consistently show that nut intake has a cholesterol-lowering effect, even in the context of healthy diets, and there is emerging evidence of beneficial effects on oxidative stress, inflammation, and vascular reactivity. Blood pressure, visceral adiposity and the metabolic syndrome also appear to be positively influenced by nut consumption. Thus it is clear that nuts have a beneficial impact on many cardiovascular risk factors. Contrary to expectations, epidemiologic studies and clinical trials suggest that regular nut consumption is unlikely to contribute to obesity and may even help in weight loss. Safety concerns are limited to the infrequent occurrence of nut allergy in children. In conclusion, nuts are nutrient rich foods with wide-ranging cardiovascular and metabolic benefits, which can be readily incorporated into healthy diets.

Keywords: antioxidants; cardiovascular disease; cholesterol; diabetes; fatty acids; inflammation; peanuts; tree nuts.

Figure 1

Results of prospective studies of nut consumption and risk of death from coronary heart disease.

Figure 2

Results of prospective studies of nut consumption and risk of diabetes. The two US studies considered the frequency of consumption of all nuts, including peanuts, while the Chinese study considered exclusively quintiles of peanut consumption in grams/day.

Figure 3

LDL-cholesterol response to nut feeding by baseline LDL-cholesterol level and BMI. Data from a pooled study of 25 nut feeding trials (adapted from ref. 69).