If you have metabolic syndrome and eat a lot of walnuts or cashews every day for two months without losing weight, it probably won't improve your cholesterol, blood pressure, or other key health numbers much.

If you're an obese adult with metabolic syndrome, eating a handful of walnuts or cashews every day for two months won't noticeably improve your cholesterol, blood pressure, or inflammation—if you don't gain or lose weight.

If you're overweight and have metabolic health issues, eating walnuts or cashews for 8 weeks might help your body, but if you don't lose weight, those benefits could be hidden.

If people with metabolic syndrome don't lose weight while eating more walnuts or cashews, they might not see improvements in their cholesterol or inflammation—even if the nuts could help.

Eating a handful of walnuts every day for a month doesn't seem to help improve cholesterol or other blood fats in middle-aged white adults who are at risk for metabolic syndrome.

If you have metabolic syndrome and eat a healthy diet, adding a lot of walnuts or cashews every day for two months doesn’t seem to boost your body’s antioxidant levels any more than the healthy diet alone—even though nuts are packed with antioxidants.