The Health Benefits of Nuts

by VC Staffers

Our traditional image of the couch potato tossing nuts into his mouth and falling ill is wrong. It now seems that the nut tossing individual was right all along. He surely knew something we did not. Modern research has now proved that people who consume nuts regularly have much better health in comparison to those who do not.

Detailed Studies

One study is particularly interesting. 31000 whites (Californian Seventh Day Adventists) were studied to determine their health and nut consumption patters. The study found that sex, age, exercise patterns, eating habits and similar characteristics were irrelevant. In this group, those who ate nuts regularly had a 60% lesser incidence of heart trouble as compared to those who ate them once a month or less. The study was repeated with African Americans with similar results. The health benefits of nuts were so startling that more studies were done which proved that regular nut consumption reduced heart disease, Type II diabetes, dementia and gallstones.

Researchers found that nuts gave a person an additional six years of life without heart disease and increased lifespan by two years.

Nuts Don’t Contribute to Weight

Many health conscious people fear that nuts, being rich in fats would contribute heavily to weight increase with all its consequences. However, events proved otherwise. Many tests indicated that regular nut consumers were not overweight at all. Scientists think that nuts have a filling effect on our minds. We feel fuller and tend to compensate for the calories we consume with nuts by reducing our meals in proportion.

Cholesterol Lowering Effect of Nuts

Many nuts are rich in unsaturated fats. Consuming these is bound to help us in reducing the bad cholesterol level in our body. However, and this surprised researchers, the amount of cholesterol reduction was much larger than what they had expected. This can only mean that there is another substance in nuts, not yet identified, that lowers cholesterol. In fact, almonds, which were studied in detail, were found to be as effective in lowering cholesterol as some specialist anti-cholesterol drugs!

How Much of Nuts Should We Eat?

Studies have indicated that 30 – 60 grams (1 -2 oz) of nuts per day are appropriate. You could mix them with your meals in a number of interesting ways to prepare nutritious meals. A number of websites specialize in recipes with nuts, you could refer to any of these or create your own recipes. As yet no adverse effects of excessive nut usage have been reported. However, we feel that 30 – 60 grams per day are adequate otherwise your body may begin to feel the shortcomings of fiber and essential minerals. If you are one of those, who enjoy nuts so much that you can’t stop eating, consider buying nuts that are not shelled. The shelling process will slow you down.