Swapping In Nuts For Your Afternoon Snack Could Reduce Metabolic Syndrome Risk, Study Finds

There's no shortage of nutrition advice out there when it comes to eating right and feeling your best, but if there's one thing that research consistently finds to be true, it's that nuts are a great edition to a well-rounded diet.

For this study, researchers from Vanderbilt University wanted to assess how nut consumption might influence metabolic syndrome risk. Metabolic syndrome includes a number of different conditions like high blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, etc., which are all associated with a higher risk of stroke, diabetes, and heart disease.

They conducted a randomized intervention trial that lasted 16 weeks, with 84 young adults between the ages of 22 and 26 that had BMIs above the healthy range.

All the participants had to do? Swap a typical carb-heavy afternoon snack for tree nuts. More specifically, the tree nuts snacks were comprised of a ¼ cup of unsalted raw cashews, pistachios, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, walnuts, and almonds.

After the 16 weeks, all participants snacking on tree nuts daily experienced reductions in triglycerides. Furthermore, female participants benefited from a reduction in waist circumference and visceral fat, while male participants saw lowered blood insulin levels, compared to those not eating nuts. 

According to the study authors, their findings suggest that daily tree nut consumption can help reduce metabolic syndrome risk by "improving waist circumference, lipid biomarkers, and/or insulin sensitivity—without requiring caloric restriction."

And that's good news for anyone who wants to mind their metabolic health. After all, metabolic syndrome affects one in every three people here in the U.S.2, and it's a major risk factor for serious diseases.