New Research On Nuts Proves Why We Should Use Food As Medicine

As if we needed another reason to love nuts, brand new research that collected and analyzed data on nut consumption from around the world suggests that nuts may be an even more powerful tool for not only preventing heart disease—but cancer, diabetes, infection, and premature death—than we ever imagined.

A group of European scientists weren't quite satisfied with current research that limited most of the benefits of nuts to cardiovascular health. Their study, published in the journal BMC Medicine, took data from 29 published research articles and after analyzing over 800,000 participants the researchers found that consuming 20 grams of nuts each day, about a handful, can reduce your risk of coronary heart disease by 30 percent, cancer by 15 percent, and the risk of premature death by 22 percent. Results also showed that nut consumption is associated with a reduced risk of death from respiratory disease, diabetes, and infection—all serious problems currently facing health care systems around the world. Could a solution be so simple?

If we take what was learned from this study and look at the big picture, we can hypothesize that as many as 4 million premature deaths could be attributed to insufficient nut intake—assuming that the relationships found in the study are accurate and representative of real-life associations.

Nuts are a fantastic food to incorporate into our daily routine, and not just for heart health but for overall well-being and the prevention of disease. And we don't know about you, but here at mindbodygreen we are celebrating a reason to add cashews to just about everything.