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Nuts and seeds
8.3 Health benefits associated with eating nuts
Heart disease
Several studies have shown that as nut consumption increases the risk of dying from a heart attack seems to decrease. Eating nuts may protect against heart disease in a variety or ways. Quick Questions Cancer
Nuts contain a number of phytochemicals (such as salicylates) and nutrients (including dietary fibre) that may play a role in preventing cancer. For example: Salicylates, belong to the aspirin family and aspirin is thought to protect against bowel cancer. Dietary fibre (roughage) is important for healthy bowel function and appears to protect against bowel cancer.
However, in some situations nuts may increase the risk of cancer.Obesity
Nuts are often thought to be fattening. Nuts are high in energy (calories) due to their high fat content. A large handful of nuts (~30 grams) supplies about 180 calories or 750 kilojoules. Quick Question
2. Nuts can increase your risk of liver cancer
Additional Information for Questions
Arginine
Nuts are a good source of arginine (an amino acid), which is a precursor to nitric oxide, a substance that relaxes arteries and so improves blood flow to organs like the heart.Unsaturated fats
Nuts are high in unsaturated fats, either mono-unsaturated fats and/or poly-unsaturated fats and low in saturated fats. Mono-unsaturated fats have been shown to have a neutral or beneficial effect on bloods cholesterol levels and poly-unsaturated fats have been shown to lower total blood cholesterol. A number of studies have shown that eating nuts can improve blood cholesterol levels such as macadamia nuts, walnuts, peanuts and almonds.Folate
Some types of nuts are a good source of folate. Poor dietary intakes of folate have been associated with higher blood concentrations of homocysteine, a substance that is toxic to blood vessels and is considered to be a risk factor for heart disease.Salicylates
Many nuts contain high amounts of salicylates, a family of naturally occurring chemicals that may play role in protecting against cardiovascular disease, colon cancer and Alzheimer's disease. It's interesting to note that aspirin belongs to the salicylate family.Sterols
Plant sterols are one type of phytochemical found in nuts. Plant sterols when isolated from their food source and concentrated into specially formulated novel foods like margarine have been shown to lower blood cholesterol levels. In the long run this type of food manipulation may not provide as many health benefits as eating these food components in their natural forms.In some situations nuts may increase the risk of cancer. Peanuts that become mouldy can produce toxins known as aflatoxins. In some countries, the level of aflatoxin contamination can become so high that eating such nuts is thought to increase the risk of liver cancer. In Australia, market basket surveys (surveys that take samples of food from around Australia and test for contaminants) have shown the level of aflatoxin contamination is either absent or so low that health authorities consider this level of contamination not to be harmful to health.
One study investigating the effects of eating nuts found nut eaters were more likely to be leaner that those who did not eat nuts. Nut eaters in this study were more health conscious. The behaviour of health conscious people may protect against obesity because they exercise more, eat less processed fatty food. Some studies indicate fat may play an important role in satiety (feeling satisfied after eating). Nut eaters may eat less calories overall if eating nuts helps them to reach satiety earlier than non-nut eaters.
