To Your Health: The Benefits of a Handful of Nuts
Back when "fat-free" was the smart choice, nuts didn't get much respect: Although tasty, they're high in fat and calories. But these days, nuts are winning kudos as a health food. Considerable research attests to several benefits — most notably, a reduced risk of heart attack. One of the first studies to show this effect tracked diet and heart disease for six years in 31,208 Seventh-Day Adventists. Results showed that women and men who ate nuts at least four times a week had 51% fewer heart attacks than those who ate nuts less often — a benefit that couldn't be explained by other factors, including good overall health habits.
Likewise, a Nurses' Health Study (NHS) investigation followed 86,016 women for 14 years and found that those who ate at least five ounces of nuts per week were 35% less likely to a suffer heart attack than those who ate less than one ounce per month. A separate NHS study found that women who regularly ate nuts were less likely to undergo gallbladder surgery than those who ate few or no nuts. Nut consumption also appears to reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes in women and may help curb the appetite.
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Calorie, fiber, and fat* content of a 1-ounce serving of nuts
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Nut
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Number of calories
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Fiber (grams)
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Fat (grams)
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Almonds (23 whole kernels)
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164
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3.3
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14.4
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Cashews, oil-roasted (18 kernels)
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164
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0.9
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13.5
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Hazelnuts (21 whole kernels)
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178
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2.7
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17.2
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Macadamia (10–12 kernels)
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204
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2.3
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21.6
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Peanuts, oil-roasted (28 kernels)
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170
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3.0
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15.0
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Pecans (19 halves)
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196
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2.7
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20.4
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Pine nuts (167 kernels)
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191
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1.0
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19.4
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Pistachios (49 kernels)
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161
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2.9
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13.0
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Walnuts (14 halves)
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185
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1.9
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18.5
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*The ratio of healthy fat (mono- and polyunsaturated fat) to saturated fat in the nuts included here ranges from 5:1 to 15:1.
Sources: USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, and Netzer, C. The Complete Book of Food Counts, 4th ed., 1997.
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Why are nuts so healthful? Scientists don't know exactly, but one idea is that they help lower blood cholesterol levels, including LDL ("bad") cholesterol, either by displacing other, harmful foods or by lowering cholesterol directly. In most studies comparing diets enriched with nuts against diets that lack nuts (but are otherwise identical in fat and calories), cholesterol levels drop among the nut-eaters. And while it's true that nuts are high in fat, it's mostly monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat — "good fats" that are an integral part of heart-healthy diets, such as the Mediterranean diet. Other beneficial ingredients include fiber, protein, vitamin E, calcium, magnesium, potassium, selenium, zinc, copper, and arginine (an amino acid that may improve blood vessel function).
To fit nuts into your diet without going overboard, keep in mind that a one-ounce serving of nuts has about 180 calories. Don't add nuts to your diet without subtracting a similar number of calories from other foods. For example, substitute one ounce of nuts for 180 calories worth of less-healthful foods, such as refined grain products, sugary foods, processed meats, or saturated fats. Chop up nuts and add them to rice dishes, casseroles, salads, stir-fries, and baked goods. One ounce of nuts — a small handful — is also a healthful snack that's likely to stick with you a lot longer than candy or a bag of chips.