An American study suggests that adding about a handful of nuts to the daily diet may improve long-term health.
- The French consume an average of 500 grams of walnuts each year. France is the leading European producer of walnuts with 34,946 tonnes in 2019 (source: Agreste).
- The nut provides many nutrients: omega-3, fiber, protein, magnesium… Which could explain its long-term health benefits.
- According to this study, walnuts would help people adopt healthier eating and lifestyle habits throughout their lives.
30 years of tracking over 3,000 Americans to come to one conclusion: nut eaters are more likely to be more physically active, eat better quality diets, and have a lower risk of having a heart disease when they get older. Why ?
In addition to the nutritional benefits of the nut, this studypublished in Nutrition, Metabolism, & Cardiovascular Diseasessuggests that simply adding about a handful of nuts to your diet could help establish other healthier lifestyle habits later in life.
Nuts, an excellent source of omega-3s
To arrive at these results, researchers from the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota used data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study. ), a long-term study supported by the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute that aimed to examine the development of risk factors for heart disease over time. They note these findings could be due to the health effects of nutrients found in nuts.
In fact, walnuts are an excellent source of plant-based omega-3s (2.5 grams per handful of nuts), which previous studies have shown may play a role in heart health, brain health and healthy aging. Walnuts are also high in several nutrients important to health: protein (2 grams per handful), fiber (2 grams), and magnesium (45 milligrams). Walnuts also provide a variety of antioxidants, including polyphenols.
Nut eaters have a healthier lifestyle
The researchers also speculate that nuts could be an easy and accessible food choice for young people to reduce many risk factors for getting heart disease as they age.
“The surprising and healthy changes in the overall diet of nut eaters suggest that nuts may act as a bridge or “carrying food” to help people adopt healthier eating and lifestyle habits throughout life. life“said Professor Lyn M. Steffen, author of the study, in a statement.
Although these results confirm previous work from the CARDIA study on the health benefits of nut consumption, randomized controlled clinical trials should still be performed on other populations from different backgrounds to confirm the observations of the current study.
