Eating nuts leads to healthier life and prevents weight gain

To prevent weight gain and to provide other cardiovascular benefits, eat Brazil nuts and other varieties of nuts daily, say studies.

Two separate studies presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2018 in Chicago tried to show the benefits of eating nuts daily.

One study analyzed the influence of eating nuts and peanuts on long-term body weight in U.S. men and women. The other study examined whether eating Brazil nuts could increase a sense of fullness and improve glucose and insulin responses.

In the analysis of nuts’ impact on weight, researchers followed health professionals who were free of chronic disease at the start of the study. They found that eating one one-ounce serving of any type of nuts or peanuts, in place of foods generally considered low in nutritional value, was associated with a lower risk of long-term weight gain and obesity.

Nut consumption was assessed through a food-frequency questionnaire submitted to participants every four years in three different established study groups of 25,394 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, 53,541 women in the Nurse’s Health Study and 47,255 women in the Nurse’s Health Study II in follow-up research.

The findings revealed that eating a daily serving of any type of nut or peanuts was associated with less risk of weight gain or becoming obese over the four-year intervals. It also showed that substituting one serving a day of any type of nuts in place of one serving of red meat, processed meat, French fries, desserts or potato chips was associated with less weight gain over the four-year intervals.

In the Brazil nut study, conducted at San Diego State University in 2017 through a grant from the American Heart Association, 22 healthy adults (20 women and two men) age 20 or older with a mean body mass index of 22.3, consumed either 36 grams of pretzels or 20 grams of Brazil nuts (about five nuts) in addition to their usual diet. The Brazil nuts and pretzels had approximately the same amount of calories and sodium. Participants ate either the nuts or the pretzels in two trials with a washout period of at least 48 hours to prevent carryover effects.

The study found, both Brazil nuts and pretzels significantly increased a sense of fullness and reduced feelings of hunger, with the greatest sense of fullness experienced by the group eating Brazil nuts compared to those eating pretzels. It also found that pretzel consumption caused a significant increase in blood glucose and insulin at 40-minutes after they were eaten, compared to the start of the trial, whereas eating Brazil nuts did not significantly increase blood glucose or insulin.

Brazil nuts are one of the highest known food sources of selenium; a mineral which the researchers note in previous studies may be associated with improvements in insulin and glucose responses.