Nuts claimed to lower diabetes risk

A new study has claimed that nuts, especially tree nuts, can offer a range of health benefits for people at risk from conditions such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
It was found that people that eat tree nuts such as cashews, almonds, walnuts, pistachios and macadamias as part of their regular diet have a reduced risk of diabetes, metabolic syndrome and heart disease.
Scientists at the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center monitored over the diets 13,000 people, revealing that nuts are associated with higher levels of “good” cholesterol and lower levels of an inflammation marker known C-reactive protein that is linked with chronic conditions. Also, those who regularly tree nuts had lower body mass indexes (BMI) than those who don’t regularly eat nuts, and walnuts are thought to have the highest concentration of omega-3 fatty acids among all the nuts.
As reported in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, the study highlighted that the prevalence of metabolic syndrome for those who regularly eat tree nuts was five per cent lower than for those who didn’t consume. The findings follow a Spanish study last year which claimed that eating an ounce of nuts each day is associated with higher levels of serotoni, a neurotransmitter in the body thought to be linked with happiness.