Nuts lower risk factors for some serious diseases.

Nuts are easy to carry with you if you need a snack between your regular meals. Nuts also provide a lot of health benefits. The research reviewed evaluated the impact of nut consumption on the risk for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome (O’Neil CE, et al. 2011).

The study included 13,292 participants. The nut consumers consumed 0.25 ounces or more daily of nuts and was compared with non nut consumers.

Nut consumption was associated with a decreased body mass index, waist circumference and systolic blood pressure when compared with non consumers. Nut consumers also had a lower weight; high blood pressure and elevated fasting blood glucose were not as common, neither was low HDL (the good cholesterol).

If you want to add nuts to your diet, I suggest you eat nuts instead of high glycemic index carbohydrates. If you only add nuts to what you are eating now without reducing the intake of something else, you will end up increasing your calorie intake and that is not the idea.

O’Neil CE, Keast DR, Nicklas TA, Fulgoni VL 3rd. Nut consumption is associated with decreased health risk factors for cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome in U.S. adults: NHANES 1999-2004. J Am Coll Nutr. 2011 Dec;30(6):502-10.