Nut consumption could help to prevent weight gain, study suggests

[DCUK NewsBot]

A handful of nuts a day could prevent people from putting on weight in later life, US researchers have said. A team from Harvard University and Harvard Medical School looked at health data from thousands of people to determine whether changing a person's nut consumption affected long-term weight gain. Participants were healthcare professionals and were aged between 24 to 75 years old. At the beginning of the study all the participants were free of chronic disease. Every four years they were asked to answer questions about their weight and their food intake, which included nut consumption. Average weight gain of the participants was 0.32kg (0.7lbs) each year. The results showed that in each 4-year interval, those regularly consuming half a serving of nuts per day were gaining less weight. Indeed, those regularly consuming half a serving per day of walnuts or other tree nuts were gaining around 0.4kg less body weight. With less weight being gained by those eating nuts, the risk of developing obesity was also lower. There was a 3% lower risk of obesity for those having half a serving of any nuts per day, a 15% lower risk for having half a serving per day of walnuts, and an 11% lower risk for those having half a serving per day of other tree nuts. Lead study author Dr Xiaoran Liu, a research associate in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, said: "Our results indicate that increased consumption of total nuts or any types of nut (including peanuts) is associated with less long-term weight gain, despite being calorically dense. "Incorporating nuts as part of a healthy dietary pattern by replacing less healthful foods may help mitigate the gradual weight gain common during adulthood and beneficially contribute to the prevention of obesity." Nuts are rich in nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, protein, fat, fibre and relatively low in carbohydrate. The study findings have been published in the BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health journal.

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[Metabolism_Boss]

I use a nut and seed mix that I roast myself as a "dessert". As I am older, I do have to watch my portion control and I have 7 glass bottles that hold 1oz of the mixture and I have one each day. I'm afraid that there is much jiggling and shaking of each container to see if I can get a few more in before I close the lid, and a bit like Gorgy Porgy I've been known to "put in a thumb" into the Kilner jar and pick out a macadamia nut or a brazil nut, as a "freeby"...

 

[KK123]

Who the heck sticks to a 'handful'?

 

[Mr_Pot]

How do you have "half a serving" of nuts? Perhaps you could serve yourself a portion of nuts and then only eat half of them.

 

[Tophat1900]

Who the heck sticks to a 'handful'?

I do with walnuts, a serving being 30g of walnuts. I should point out I eat them as part of a meal, not as a snack.... so that makes it easier to stick to a serving.

 

[Member496333]

Typical epidemiology. Food surveys - the cornerstone of nutritional science

There may or may not be some truth to this, but since there is unlikely to ever be any properly conducted trials where the only intervention over a control diet is the addition of nuts, this is just white noise. As is tradition in these matters.

 

[carty]

I eat nuts every day and I am trying to gain weight
Carol

 

[Robbity]

Oh save us from a hand full of nutty researchers!

My weight will often "wobble" a bit around a kilo or so either way but it's actually remained fairly stable over five years now - and I certainly can't attribute these small fluctuations to the amount of nuts I may or not be eating. They'd may be something I'd cut down on if I was trying to reduce glucose levels, but I don't believe they'v ever actually affected my weight up or down...

I eat (generally smallish quantities of) nuts regularly now but as part of LCHF meals and not as a snack, but I've never checked to see what constitutes an official portion size, let alone half a one...

 

[Tophat1900]

Typical epidemiology. Food surveys - the cornerstone of nutritional science

There may or may not be some truth to this, but since there is unlikely to ever be any properly conducted trials where the only intervention over a control diet is the addition of nuts, this is just white noise. As is tradition in these matters.

It is a waste of money. Anyway, gotta go get my lunch and my walnuts.