nut eaters have an increased life span: Study

If you are reaching for your next snack, dip heavily into that bowl of nuts because researchers have recently reported that consuming nutmeats on a regular basis can increase your lifespan. The study found that the risk of death from any type of disease was lowered by as much as 20 percent when an individual consumed nuts and lowered their risk of dying young even further the more frequently the person reached for nuts as a snack or added them to his daily diet. The magic number for nut consumption if you want to increase your longevity is 28g of nuts of any variety, preferably served without salt, eaten every day of the week.

“The most obvious benefit was a reduction of 29 percent in deaths from heart disease – the major killer of people in America,” said Charles S. Fuchs, MD, director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Treatment Center at Dana-Farber, who is the senior author of the report, according to a news release. “But we also saw a significant reduction – 11 percent – in the risk of dying from cancer.”

But many critics of the study’s findings say that their research hasn’t definitively showed a cause and effect relationship between nut consumption and a longer life. People more likely to include nuts in their dietary choices most frequently also tended to be individuals who did not smoke, made healthier menu choices overall and tended to participate in regular exercise, all of which also leads to increased longevity.

“In all these analyses, the more nuts people ate, the less likely they were to die over the 30-year follow-up period,” explained Ying Bao, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, first author of the report.

A surprising factor uncovered was that nut eaters also tended to consume more alcohol that those who dismissed nuts as a snack option.

On The Web:
Nut eaters may have a longer life expectancy
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2013/11November/Pages/Nut-eaters-may-have-a-longer-life-expectancy.aspx