Harvard study: Eating nuts may make you live longer

[Sugar_Free]

Do you eat nuts? I usually eat about an ounce per day.

Harvard study: Eating nuts may make you live longer
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/20/harvard-long-life-nuts/3654717/

DALLAS (AP) —Help yourself to some nuts this holiday season: Regular nut eaters were less likely to die of cancer or heart disease —in fact, were less likely to die of any cause —during a 30-year Harvard study.

Nuts have long been called heart-healthy, and the study is the largest ever done on whether eating them affects mortality.

Researchers tracked 119,000 men and women and found that those who ate nuts roughly every day were 20 percent less likely to die during the study period than those who never ate r ate nuts. Eating nuts less often lowered the death risk too, in direct proportion to consumption.

The risk of dying of heart disease dropped 29 percent and the risk of dying of cancer fell 11 percent among those who had nuts seven or more times a week compared with people who never ate them.

The benefits were seen from peanuts as well as from pistachios, almonds, walnuts and other tree nuts. The researchers did not look at how the nuts were prepared —oiled or salted, raw or roasted.

A bonus: Nut eaters stayed slimmer. (more )

[teaser]

Sometimes I binge on nuts. I used to biinge on potato chips. I consider that an improvement.

One thing they don't consider is that nuts are pretty much the one mostly-fat snack that normal people eat much of. ("Normal" ruling out us butter-snackers and bulletproof coffee drinkers).

[aj_cohn]

Another observational study *yawn*.

[sexym2]

I can't even bring nuts into the house because I will binge on them. They are link pringles!

[costello22]

I eat nuts. This study, though ... NPR included the information that it was funded by a nut growers association.

[Nancy LC]

Another observational study *yawn*.
Exactly... healthy user effect undoubtedly.

[RawNut]

In the PREDIMED (http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1200303)trial, both nuts and olive oil reduced the incidents and death from cardiovascular causes but only olive oil showed a clear trend for lower all-cause mortality.



http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BF8pkwnxIaw/UTAcWQeMZ7I/AAAAAAAAANU/Y-2x2V2n5b8/s1600/MedOliveFig1.png

[Nancy LC]

Finally an article that isn't being completely stupid about the topic:

article (http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/11/nuts-my-anti-death/281722/)
Eating nuts meant about a handful (an ounce) of any type of nut, seven or more times per week, for years. People who ate more nuts were not only less likely to die during the 30-year period, but also, Drazen said, "leaner, less likely to smoke; more likely to exercise, eat more fruits and vegetables, and drink more alcohol." Yes, more alcohol. Even controlling for those associations, the nut-eating sect apparently enjoyed significantly fewer cancers, strokes, infections, and cases of kidney failure and cardiac disease.
So, do nuts also make you smoke less, eat more vegetables, and exercise more? You can't control for ALL behaviors that make healthy people healthier. Always take these sorts of studies with a HUGE grain of salt.

[keith v]

So, do nuts also make you smoke less, eat more vegetables, and exercise more?

LMAO!
I love this group :D

[deirdra]

Of course the nut-eaters were slimmer. Fatties are shamed into believing that fat and calories from nuts are verboten! Who, besides the allergic, "never eat nuts" (a category in this study)? - those who follow government guidelines and the dietitians who push them.

[kyrasdad]

I like nuts and have been eating them for years. When you are traveling, it's easy to pack a baggie of them, or pick them up at convenience stores, etc. They are one of the few hand-snacks out there for low carbers.

However, recently I've had to cut way back on them because something is going on with me. I find myself feeling (for lack of a better term) queasy after I eat them. It's a slight upset stomach. I've done this with almonds, with mixed nuts, with pecans, walnuts, and macadamias. Not sure why this would start happening to me, but it is.

Anyway, I've lost a ton of weight eating them, and like many others I have had to be careful about too many. I guess the vague queasiness may help me not to eat too much of them.

[RobLL]

My son observed that he ate too many if they were roasted and salted. So only the 'non' in his house. It is true, they no longer issue that siren call.

[teaser]

Doesn't seem to work for me. Raw, unsalted, still binge. I actually have better control over pure nut butters.

[Karhys]

I like nuts and have been eating them for years. When you are traveling, it's easy to pack a baggie of them, or pick them up at convenience stores, etc. They are one of the few hand-snacks out there for low carbers.

However, recently I've had to cut way back on them because something is going on with me. I find myself feeling (for lack of a better term) queasy after I eat them. It's a slight upset stomach. I've done this with almonds, with mixed nuts, with pecans, walnuts, and macadamias. Not sure why this would start happening to me, but it is.

Anyway, I've lost a ton of weight eating them, and like many others I have had to be careful about too many. I guess the vague queasiness may help me not to eat too much of them.

I have (had) the same problem with feeling queasy after eating more than a few nuts. I found that soaking the nuts first before eating them makes this problem go away. I don't know if you have tried that, but if not it may be worth it? I tried it after reading this post by Chris Kresser (http://chriskresser.com/another-reason-you-shouldnt-go-nuts-on-nuts) and was surprised that I could then eat nuts in decent quantities again without feeling ucky. Which is good because I love nuts!

[mike_d]

Sometimes I feel like a nut -- sometimes I don't :)

I try to have a Brazil nut every morning even though I don't particularly like them. They are high in Selenium, an essential nutrient.

[CMCM]

I get so tired of "studies" linking a food to this or that. You could link coffee drinking to being a serial killer.