Going Nuts on Improving Heart Health
This absolutely massive new study provides powerful evidence that eating nuts is great for your heart.
The research just continues to pile up proving that eating nuts is great for your heart. A 2016 systematic review found that eating nuts reduces the risk of coronary heart disease by 29%, of stroke by 7% and of cardiovascular disease by 21% (BMC Medicine 2016;14:207).
In 2018, a systematic review concluded that nuts protect you from getting heart disease and from dying from it. It found a 19% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 17-34% lower risk of coronary heart disease. People who eat the most nuts have 19-25% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared to people who eat the least. Tree nuts reduced the risk by 19%; peanuts reduced it by 22%. People who eat the most nuts cut their risk of dying from coronary heart disease by 27%. And, again, peanuts work as well as tree nuts: tree nuts reduce the risk by 21% and peanuts by 24%. The news is just as good for preventing death from strokes: people who eat the most nuts have an 18% lower risk (Nutrients 2018;10(12):1935).
One year later, a meta-analysis of 19 studies showed that eating nuts reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by 15% and cardiovascular death by 23%. It found an 18% reduced risk of coronary heart disease and a 24% reduced risk of death. And it found that eating nuts reduced the risk of dying from a stroke by 17% (Nutrition Reviews 2019;77(10:691-709)
The latest research adds to the good news. A systematic review and meta-analysis of 13 controlled studies showed that eating walnuts significantly reduces total cholesterol, the bad LDL cholesterol and triglycerides (Nutrients. 2022 Oct 23 ;14(21)). And a systematic review and meta-analysis of 26 controlled studies found that eating almonds significantly lowered diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, the even worse VLDL (very low density cholesterol) and triglycerides (Phytother Res. 2022;36(12):4325-4344).
Tree nuts include almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pistachios and pine nuts. Peanuts have a similar nutritional profile but are, technically, legumes.
This huge new meta-analysis included 129 controlled studies that examined the effect of combined nuts and of peanuts on cardiovascular disease.
It found that eating nuts significantly decreases total cholesterol, the heart harmful LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and apolipoprotein B. Though it found no effect on HDL cholesterol, it did find a significant reduction in the ratio of total to HDL cholesterol and the ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol.
This important study shows that tree nuts and peanuts are beneficial for preventing cardiovascular disease. Because they were the subject of a greater number of studies, the evidence may be strongest so far for almonds and walnuts.
Advances in Nutrition. May 2023;doi.org/10.1016/j.advnut.2023.05.004.
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