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Eat Nuts For Heart Health
Washington, 2 Apr (Prensa Latina) A recent study published in Amazing has found that people from different ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds who consume nuts and peanuts (considered a legume) tend to have a lower risk for death from cardiovascular disease and overall death.
"We found consistent evidence that high nut/peanut consumption was associated with a reduced risk of total mortality and CVD mortality," the authors of the study said in a statement.
"This inverse association was observed among both men and women and across each racial/ethnic group, and was independent of metabolic conditions, smoking, alcohol consumption, and BMI.
For the study, a Vanderbilt University School of Medicine research team, headed up by Dr. Xiao-Ou Shu, gathered data from 71,764 black and white men and women from the southeastern United States and 134,265 Chinese men and women from Shanghai, China.
Researchers were able to assess nut and peanut consumption equally in participants from the U.S.; however, only peanut consumption was analyzed in participants from China. Men in both groups consumed more peanuts than women.
Nut and peanut consumption led to a reduced risk for overall mortality due to cardiovascular disease and ischemic heart disease across gender, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups.
Risk for overall mortality was reduced by 21 percent among participants from the U.S. and 17 percent among participants from China, who ate the most peanuts.
Although peanuts are often included as nuts in data, they are actually classified as legumes with nutrient content similar to tree nuts.
Nuts are not only a healthy source of protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, but they are also high in monounsaturated fats, which are empathized as part of the heart-healthy Mediterranean diet.
The American Heart Association recommends eating four servings of unsalted, unoiled nuts a week" a serving size being a small handful, one and a half ounces of whole nuts, or two tablespoons of nut butter.
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