Being nuts about nuts

A handful of nuts a day can help to keep the doctor – and the undertaker – away, research has shown.
People consuming at least 20g of nuts daily were less likely to develop potentially fatal conditions such as heart disease and cancer, the study found.
Being nuts about nuts reduced the risk of heart disease by nearly 30 per cent, the risk of cancer by 15 per cent and the risk of premature death by 22 per cent.
The same amount of nuts – equivalent to a handful – was also associated with a halving of the risk of dying from a respiratory disease. Diabetes risk was cut by nearly 40 per cent.

Study co-author Dagfinn Aune, from Imperial College London, said: “In nutritional studies, so far much of the research has been on the big killers such as heart diseases, stroke and cancer, but now we’re starting to see data for other diseases.
“We found a consistent reduction in risk across many different diseases, which is a strong indication that there is a real underlying relationship between nut consumption and different health outcomes. It’s quitea substantial effect for such a small amount of food.”
The team, whose findings appear in the journal BMC Medicine, analysed published data on...