The Study
Nut consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease and ischemic heart disease mortality: The Adventist Health Study 2.
This study watched a bunch of people for over 10 years and noticed that those who ate more nuts tended to live longer without heart disease. But it didn’t make them eat nuts — so we can’t say nuts are the reason they lived longer.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
People who eat more nuts, especially walnuts and almonds, tend to live longer and have fewer heart attacks.
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 560 / 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.
- 1Yes — replacing a burger with a handful of nuts could cut your risk of dying from heart disease by nearly a quarter.
- 2Eating nuts at the high end of consumption (90th percentile) was linked to 14% lower risk of heart disease death and 19% lower risk of heart attack death compared to low intake.
- 3Tree nuts like walnuts were even better — 27% lower heart attack death risk.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
The Journal of nutrition
Year
2025
Authors
Montry S. Suprono, D. Shavlik, Fayth M. Butler, Joan Sabaté, Gary E. Fraser, Michael J. Orlich
Related Content
Claims (10)
People who eat about 15 grams of walnuts each day have a lower risk of dying from any cause compared to those who do not.
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 nuts have lower rates of death from heart disease and gastric cancer compared to those who do not.
People who eat walnuts have lower rates of death from heart disease and live longer after age 60 compared to those who do not.
People who eat more nuts have lower rates of death from heart disease than those who eat fewer nuts, with the highest consumers showing the lowest risk.
People who eat the most nuts, including tree nuts, peanuts, and peanut butter, have a 14% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a 19% lower risk of dying from ischemic heart disease compared to those who eat the least, after accounting for other lifestyle and dietary factors.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.