The Study
Association of Nut Consumption with Total and Cause-Specific Mortality
This study watched a lot of people over many years and noticed that those who ate more nuts tended to live longer. But it didn’t make people eat nuts—it just watched what they already did. So we can’t say nuts definitely made them live longer, just that they were linked.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
People who ate nuts regularly were less likely to die from heart disease, cancer, or other causes over many years.
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 567 / 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 — eating a small handful of nuts a few times a week was linked to a meaningful drop in death risk, even after accounting for other healthy habits.
- 2People who ate nuts 7+ times a week were 20% less likely to die from any cause than those who never ate nuts.
- 3Eating nuts 2+ times a week lowered risk of heart disease death by 12–17% and cancer death by 10–15%.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
The New England journal of medicine
Year
2013
Authors
Ying Bao, Jiali Han, F. Hu, E. Giovannucci, M. Stampfer, W. Willett, C. Fuchs
Related Content
Claims (6)
People who eat nuts have a lower rate of death from any cause compared to those who do not eat nuts.
People who eat nuts two or more times per week have a 12–17% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared to those who eat nuts less frequently, based on data from two large U.S. population studies.
People who eat peanuts or tree nuts at least twice a week have a lower risk of death compared to those who eat them less often, and the reduction in risk is similar for both types of nuts.
Adults who eat nuts seven or more times per week have a 20% lower risk of dying from any cause compared to adults who do not eat nuts, based on long-term observations of health professionals.
People who eat more nuts have a 10–15% lower risk of dying from cancer compared to those who eat fewer nuts, based on observations from two large U.S. studies that accounted for smoking, body weight, alcohol use, and other cancer risk factors.
People who eat more nuts have a 15–20% lower risk of dying from respiratory diseases compared to those who eat fewer nuts, and this pattern holds across different levels of nut consumption after accounting for smoking, body weight, and other risk factors.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.