BEING a little bit nutty could be good for your heart.
A new American study has found people who regularly eat nuts are less likely to develop heart disease.
Researchers found participants who ate five or more servings of nuts per week had a 14 per cent lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease and a 20 per cent lower risk of coronary heart disease.
They also looked at the different types of nuts. Walnut eaters had a 19 per cent lower risk cardiovascular disease and 21 per cent lower risk of coronary heart disease.
Participants who ate peanuts or tree nuts two or more times per week had a 13 percent and 15 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease, respectively, and a 15 percent and 23 percent, lower risk of coronary heart disease, respectively, compared to those who never consumed nuts.
"Our findings support recommendations of increasing the intake of a variety of nuts, as part of healthy dietary patterns, to reduce the risk of chronic disease in the general populations," said Dr Marta Guasch-Ferre, the study's lead author and a research fellow in nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
While the study looked at more than 210,000 over 32 years, it had several limitations and more research will be needed.
The results were published in Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
