Help Your Heart With a Handful of Nuts?

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Unprocessed fats (nuts) and heart health.

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Ask Dr. Weil

Help Your Heart With a Handful of Nuts?

" I'm seeing a lot of news items about nuts these days. What's your opinion

on their fat content vs. their nutritional benefits? "

-- Delia

(Published 01/19/1999)

Recent findings about nuts and your heart certainly

do have nut lovers singing. One of the most important comes from the

ongoing Nurses Health Study at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and

the Harvard School of Public Health, which has been monitoring the health

of 86,000 nurses. Results reported in November showed that nurses who ate

more than five ounces of nuts per week (about the equivalent of one airline

packet per day) had one third fewer heart attacks than those who rarely or

never ate nuts. Preliminary results from the companion Physicians Health

Study indicate that eating nuts may provide the same health benefits to men.

And that's not all; another study of 31,000

vegetarians showed that eating about two ounces of nuts more than five

times a week significantly reduced the risk of death from heart attack, and

a fourth study of 40,000 postmenopausal women found that those who ate the

most nuts reduced their risk of coronary heart disease by 60 percent.

Nuts don't contain cholesterol, but are rich in

fat. The fat they contain is either mono- or polyunsaturated fat, both much

better for your heart and arteries than the saturated fat in red meat and

dairy products. Nuts are also rich in protein and a variety of vitamins and

minerals. Walnuts, for instance, are an excellent source of thiamin,

vitamin B-6, folic acid, magnesium, zinc and potassium, and they deliver

heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Other types of nuts provide selenium,

copper, magnesium and vitamin E. Even better, all nuts contain flavonoids,

which are potent antioxidants and can help protect against cancer and heart

disease.

My only issue with nuts is the high number of

calories they contain. (Incidentally, there's no big difference between

dry-roasted and oil-roasted nuts.) A one-ounce serving of almonds (about 22

nuts) amounts to 175 calories. Macadamias are highest -- one ounce (10 to

12 nuts) contains 205 calories. If you want to add nuts to your diet for

the health benefits and taste, don't go overboard -- an ounce per day is

about right.