Nuts reduce heart disease risk, according to new research.It adds to the growing evidence that nuts are heart-healthy.
Nuts alone won't reduce heart disease risk, experts suggest.New research suggests that eating a small amount of nuts can help your heart.
In the Food Nutrition Research study, 42 scientific publications involving 1.8 million people revealed that consuming a handful of nuts everyday reduces heart disease risk by 25%.
Nuts reduce heart disease risk in multiple studies. Nut eaters were less likely to suffer cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease,
and stroke, according to a 2020 Journal of the American Heart Association research of approximately 193,000 adults.
“These data support nut intake in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease,” the researchers said.
The Adventist Study, Iowa Women's Health Study, Nurses' Health Study, and Physicians' Health Study have shown that people who eat nuts several times a week
have a 30–50% lower risk of cardiovascular disease or sudden cardiac death than those who don't.
Lead study author Erik Arnesen, a researcher at the University of Oslo, believes heart disease is multifaceted and hard to link to nuts.
“It is true that heart disease has several risk factors, but almost all of them—about 90%—are ‘modifiable’ factors, meaning the potential for prevention is huge,” he says.
“High blood pressure and high cholesterol levels are the main causes of myocardial infarction, and we know that these are largely related to diet and lifestyle.”
Arnesen believes nuts contain unsaturated fatty acids, which reduce blood cholesterol. “Adding nuts to the diet has been shown in clinical trials to lower cholesterol,” he explains.
Almonds, pistachios, and walnuts were best in lowering cholesterol, which can help the heart, according to one study.