The Study
Nut Consumption and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease
This study watched a lot of people over many years and noticed that those who ate more nuts tended to have fewer heart problems. But it didn’t make people eat nuts — it just watched what they already did. So we can’t say nuts definitely caused the better health — maybe people who eat nuts also eat better and exercise more.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
Scientists tracked what people ate for decades to see if eating nuts helps prevent heart problems.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 559 / 100
Quality score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Eating a small handful of nuts several times a week may help protect your heart, especially against heart attacks — but not necessarily strokes.
- 2People who ate nuts 5+ times a week had 14% less heart disease and 20% less heart attacks.
- 3Walnuts and peanuts helped too — but peanut butter didn't.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Journal of the American College of Cardiology
Year
2017
Authors
M. Guasch-Ferré, Xiaoran Liu, Vasanti S. Malik, Qi Sun, W. Willett, J. Manson, K. Rexrode, Yanping Li, F. Hu, S. Bhupathiraju
Related Content
Claims (7)
People who eat different types of nuts have different levels of mortality risk, and walnuts are linked to a greater reduction in mortality risk compared to other nuts.
People who eat whole nuts have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease compared to those who do not, but their risk of stroke is not lower.
People who eat walnuts at least once a week have a 19% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 21% lower risk of coronary heart disease compared to those who eat them less often.
People aged middle-aged and older who eat one serving of nuts five or more times per week have a 14% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 20% lower risk of coronary heart disease compared to those who eat nuts less frequently, after accounting for other lifestyle and dietary habits.
Eating more nuts overall does not reliably lower stroke risk, but peanuts and walnuts might be linked to a small reduction in stroke risk, while the protective effect of nuts appears to be stronger for heart disease than for stroke.
Eating peanut butter does not lower the risk of heart disease or coronary heart disease, possibly because processing or other dietary habits cancel out the benefits seen with whole nuts.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.