Eating more nuts will help you live longer, study says

The largest study looking at the connection between consuming nuts and living longer has come to that conclusion as nuts are filled with proteins, vitamins, unsaturated fats and possibly antioxidants that could help lower heart disease risk.

Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School ran a study featuring 76,464 women, CNN reports. A follow up study looked at 42,498 men. The study questioned the participants on the nuts the ate and how often.

Participants who said they regularly ate nuts had a lowered risk of different diseases, including heart and respiratory, in addition to cancer. Prior studies have come to similar conclusions and note that nut eaters tend to be non-smoking, more active and fit.

The study also found that those who ate a serving of nuts a day had a 20 percent lower risk, over those who didn't eat nuts, in common health issues and more nut consumption was better, according to ABC News.

"Nuts are a nutrient dense food," lead study author Dr. Ying Bao said. "Previous studies show benefits for different chronic diseases - benefits for diabetes, metabolic syndrome, even colon cancer. And, of course, heart disease."

Founding director at Yale University's Prevention Research Center, Dr. David Katz, noted that the study doesn't conclusively prove more nuts are better, but might help.

"One potentially important reason why nuts reduce disease risk and death is what they add to the diet, another is what they remove from the diet. People who eat more nuts are likely eating them instead of other foods, perhaps snack foods apt to be far less nutritious."

image: Wikimedia Commons

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