Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Study of 1500 women reveals that those who consumed the highest amounts of nuts or peanut butter (> 5 servings per week) had a 44% decreased risk of CVD and a 44% reduced risk of having a heart attack compared to women with the lowest nut/peanut butter intake (almost never).
Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S., currently affecting 24 million Americans at a cost of $174 billion per year to our healthcare system. Of the many health problems that diabetes can lead to, perhaps the most costly is cardiovascular disease (CVD) which currently affects 81 million Americans and costs our healthcare system $448 billion per year (1). Diabetics have a 200-400% increased risk of stroke and double the overall risk of death, compared to those without diabetes of similar age (2). Now a new study (3) has found that women with diabetes who consume nuts may help maintain their heart health.
The study involved over 1500 women participating in the Nurse’s Health Study (4) from 1980-2002. The women completed a food questionnaire of 61 foods in 1980 that was later expanded to more than 120 foods (5). They were examined periodically until 2002. The researchers found that women who consumed the highest amounts of nuts or peanut butter (> 5 servings per week) had a 44% decreased risk of CVD and a 44% reduced risk of having a heart attack compared to women with the lowest nut/peanut butter intake (almost never). Compared to “almost never” consuming nuts, having 1 serving per week and 2-4 servings per week reduced risks of CVD by 28% and reduced heart attack risk by 37%. Part of the reason for the decrease in CVD may be that for every 1 serving/day increase in nut consumption there was a 0.17 ml-decrease in LDL cholesterol.
The researchers’ results confirmed previous research in the Adventist Health Study where >4 servings per week of nuts produced a 51% decrease risk of heart attack and 48% lower risk of fatal CVD compared with consumption of <1 serving per wk (6). In the Iowa Women’s Health Study, consumption of nuts more than once per week in postmenopausal women produced a 19% decreased risk of CVD compared with consumption of less than once per month (7).
For the researchers, “frequent nut consumption, especially at least 5 servings/week was associated with a reduced risk of CVD and [heart attack] among women with type 2 diabetes” and that “these data support a role for regular consumption of nuts in reducing CVD risk among patients with diabetes.”
Source: Li, Tricia Y., Aoife M. Brennan, Nicole M. Wedick, Christos Mantzoros, Nader Rifai, and Frank B. Hu. “Regular consumption of nuts is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease in women with type 2 diabetes.” The Journal of nutrition 139, no. 7 (2009): 1333-1338.
© 2009 The American Institute of Nutrition
Posted May 19, 2011.
References:
- “Cardiovascular Disease at a Glance” posted on the Centers for Disease Control website.
- “Number of People with Diabetes Continues to Increase” from the CDC Website.
- Li TY. Regular Consumption of Nuts Is Associated with a Lower Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in Women with Type 2 Diabetes. J. Nutr. 2009 139: 1333-1338. First published online July 1, 2009.
- Nurse’s Health Study website.
- Willett WC. Nutritional epidemiology. New York: Oxford University Press; 1990.
- Fraser GE, Sabate J, Beeson WL, Strahan TM. A possible protective effect of nut consumption on risk of coronary heart disease. The Adventist Health Study. Arch Intern Med. 1992;152:1416–24.
- Ellsworth JL, Kushi LH, Folsom AR. Frequent nut intake and risk of death from coronary heart disease and all causes in postmenopausal women: the Iowa Women’s Health Study. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2001;11:372–7.
