Nuts reduce diabetes risk

A helping of nuts or peanut butter several times a week appears to significantly lower the risk of developing adult-onset diabetes, at least in women, a study has shown.

Nuts are high in unsaturated fat and other nutrients, which may improve glucose and insulin stability, two factors in warding off type 2, or adult-onset, diabetes, which afflicts 16 million Americans and 135 million people worldwide.

In the 16-year survey begun in 1980 of nearly 84,000 women nurses in 11 US states, Harvard University researchers found that consuming a 28.3g serving of nuts five or more times a week resulted in a 27 per cent lower risk of developing diabetes, compared with nurses who rarely or never ate nuts.

Eating the same helping of nuts between one and four times a week results in a 16 per cent lower risk of diabetes, the researchers say.

Those in the study were asked to report their consumption of peanuts or "other nuts".

While peanuts are legumes, the study notes, their fatty acid and nutrient profiles are "very similar" to other nuts.

The consumption reported in the study was a combination of both peanuts and other nuts.

Eating 142g or more of peanut butter a week reduced diabetes risk 21 per cent compared with those participants who never or almost never ate peanut butter.

Nearly 4 per cent of the study participants, or 3200 women, developed diabetes.

There is no suggestion in the report that men would not enjoy the same health benefits from consuming nuts.

The report downplays nuts' reputation for being fattening, finding hardly any association between participants' nut or peanut butter consumption and weight change.

The unsaturated fats contained in nuts have also been found to help prevent heart disease, the study says.

"Given the observed inverse association between nuts and risk of coronary heart disease as well as type 2 diabetes, it is advisable to recommend regular nut consumption as a replacement for refined grain products or red or processed meats, which would avoid increasing caloric intake," study author Rui Jiang, of the Harvard School of Public Health, wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Nuts are a component in heart-healthy dietary recommendations in another report from Harvard researchers published in the Journal, which drew its conclusions from 147 studies on diet and heart disease.

Frank Hu and Walter Willett, of the Harvard School of Public Health, say a reasonable diet should contain foods with unsaturated fats, such as nuts, rather than saturated or trans-fats; omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil or plant sources; and include lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains.


- REUTERS

Herald feature: Health