Nuts Offer Significant Health Benefits - AARP The Magazine Diets & Nutrition

For Better Health Go Nuts

One of nature' s top superfoods comes out of its shell

Almonds used to get all the accolades in the nut family. Now research shows that nuts of all kinds are some of nature's top sources of disease-fighting , protein, fiber, and mono- and .
Photo by Lisa Shin Nuts are high in calories and fat, but they offer some significant health benefits. Need evidence? Data from the University of Toronto show that replacing 50 grams of carbs (about a muffin's worth) in your diet with 2.5 ounces of nuts each day helps control blood glucose in people with . Mice that ate a walnut-rich diet (the equivalent of 2 ounces daily in humans) were half as likely to develop breast cancer as those that didn't eat nuts, according to another study. And when researchers recently pooled the results of 25 clinical trials, they found that eating 2.4 ounces of any kind of nuts a day lowered " bad" LDL cholesterol by up to 7 percent and total by up to 5 percent. Other studies have shown that people who eat several servings of nuts a week slash their cardiovascular risks by up to 74 percent, compared with those who eat nuts less than once a week. If you're worried about nuts' high fat content, don't be. Women who consumed two or more nut servings per week had a slightly lower risk of obesity than those who ate nuts less frequently or not at all, the long-running Nurses' Health Study from the Harvard School of Public Health recently discovered. "Nuts increase satiety," explains Joan Salge Blake, a registered dietitian and clinical associate professor in nutrition at Boston University. "That helps your meals go a little longer, so you don't snack as often." Just don't eat too many. Stick to a daily serving — enough to fill only the palm of your hand. Nuts are high in calories and fat, but they offer some significant health benefits. Walnuts
185 calories per ounce (14 nut halves)
Lowers breast cancer risk in animal studies. Sunflower seeds
165 calories per ounce (about 1/4 cup)
Lowers LDL cholesterol Almonds
169 calories per ounce (22 nuts)
Reduces insulin resistance and LDL cholesterol Peanuts
166 calories per ounce (25 to 28 nuts)
Helps control diabetes and reduces "bad" LDL cholesterol Pistachios
161 calories per ounce (49 nuts)
May help reduce lung cancer risk; improves "good" HDL cholesterol Macadamia Nuts
204 calories per ounce (10 to 12 nuts)
Lowers LDL cholesterol Pecans
196 calories per ounce (19 nut halves)
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