15 Grams of Nuts Has Been Found to Reduce the Risk of Death from Many Causes
In a study spanning 29 years, the researchers looked at data from over 120,000 Dutch people. They tracked the participants’ dietary habits, and health outcomes over a period of 10 years. Included in the analysis were tree nuts, peanuts, and peanut butter. (Though peanuts are legumes, they share many nutritional properties of nuts, including monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber, so are often included in studies like this one.)
They found that people who regularly ate nuts had a reduced risk of death from all of the causes included in the analysis – about 23% reduce risk, compared to people who didn’t eat nuts.
The benefit applied to cardiovascular disease and death from other diseases including cancer, stroke, diabetes, respiratory, and neurodegenerative diseases. The reduction in risk of developing neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer’s was robust: for someone who ate 10 or more grams of nuts per day, it was about 45% less than someone who ate none.
These findings apply to people who ate between 10 grams (1/3 of an ounce) and 15 grams (1/2 an ounce) of nuts per day. Be careful not to eat the entire bag !