A new thirty year study from the New England Journal of Medicine believes that a daily serving of about 30 grams of nuts can actually prolong your life.
Nuts are considered a “superfood” according to nutritionists–packed with healthy protein and fats and also contain the necessary minerals, vitamins and amounts of fiber that provide great health benefits. Nuts also have the ability to lower your risk of multiple diseases and health concerns, including heart disease, colon and pancreatic cancers, diverticulitis, type-2 diabetes, the lowering of stress levels, reduction of inflammation, and lowering of cholesterol levels.
The Research
Between 1980 and 2010, researchers on this study collected data from over 120,000 people–76,464 women and 42,498 men–and analyzed their diets and lifestyles. Every two to four years, the participants of the study were asked to complete a detailed questionnaire about their diet and lifestyle choices, including their daily intake of nuts.
By the end of the study, they discovered that participants who included nuts in their diets lived longer, were healthier and were also leaner than those who did not eat nuts. Researchers concluded that eating nuts once a day seven or more times per week reduces the risk of death by 20%.
What Kind of Nuts Prolong Life?
There are many types of nuts that provide “superfood” benefits. Throughout the study, researchers from the New England Journal of Medicine discovered that the risk of death was reduced by both nuts that grow underground and nuts that grow on trees.
Nuts that grow on trees include:
- pecans
- pine nuts
- pistachios
- walnuts
- hazelnuts
- almonds
Underground nuts consist of:
- peanuts
- Brazil nuts
- cashews
Both types of nuts are packed with the same nutrients to qualify them as a “superfood” and provide all of the health advantages to prolong your life. It has even been proven that peanut butter, in its pure-ground form, is just as healthy as eating a daily dosage of nuts.
You should be mindful not to over-portion the amount of nuts you eat because that can actually have a negative effect on your health, especially if your nuts of choice are covered in salt or chocolate.
If you don’t currently include nuts in your diet, you should talk to your doctor about it first, as nut allergies can be prevalent and devastating.
