HealthDay News — Nut consumption is inversely associated with reductions in obesity and metabolic syndrome, with stronger associations seen for tree nuts, study findings indicate.
Karen Jaceldo-Siegl, DrPH, from Loma Linda University in California, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional analysis on clinical, dietary, anthropometric and demographic data from 803 adults to examine the correlations between nut consumption, metabolic syndrome and obesity. The findings were published in PLOS ONE.
Intake of total nuts, tree nuts, and peanuts was assessed and participants were classified as low tree nut/low peanut (LT/LP), low tree nut/high peanut (LT/HP), high tree nut/high peanut (HT/HP), and high tree nut/low peanut (HT/LP) consumers.
Continue Reading
The researchers found that obesity was lower for LT/HP, HT/HP, and HT/LP consumers, compared with LT/LP consumers (odds ratios, 0.89, 0.63, and 0.54, respectively; P trend = 0.006).
The corresponding odds ratios were 0.77, 0.65, and 0.68, respectively, for metabolic syndrome (P trend = 0.056). There was a significant inverse association for nut intake frequency (once per week) with metabolic syndrome (3% less for tree nuts and 2% less for total nuts) and with obesity (7% and 3% less, respectively).
“Tree nuts appear to have [a] strong inverse association with obesity, and favorable though weaker association with metabolic syndrome independent of demographic, lifestyle and dietary factors,” the researchers wrote.
