NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Diabetics, who regularly eat nuts, may be less likely to have heart problems than those who do not, or do not, at all, according to a US study.
The study found that diabetics, who ate 28 grams of nuts at least five times a week, were 17 percent less likely to develop heart disease than those who ate nuts once a week.
But eating nuts - even once a week - is still beneficial to the heart in general. For diabetics, eating nuts once a week is associated with a 3% reduction in the risk of heart disease and a 6% reduction in the risk of heart disease death.
"These data provide new evidence, supporting the recommendation that nuts be part of healthy food patterns, in order to prevent the spread of the virus," said Zhang Liu, nutrition researcher at the H Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University in Boston and lead author of the study. Complications of cardiovascular disease and premature death among people with diabetes ».
Eating nuts may help increase glycemic control, partly because they are rich in nutrients such as unsaturated fatty acids, fiber, vitamin E, folic acid, calcium, potassium and magnesium.
For the study, researchers used self-administered diet surveys, involving 16,177 men and women, before and after their diagnosis of diabetes. The researchers asked participants about eating peanuts and walnuts for years. All participants had type 2 diabetes, the most common type associated with age and obesity.
"The ideal amount is between 28 and 42 grams of nuts a day," said Emilio Ross, a doctor at Barcelona Hospital who did not participate in the study published in the journal Research Research. It's best to recommend a bunch of crusted nuts. "
• 16,177 men and women participated in the US survey.
Zhang Liu:
"The study provides new evidence, supporting the recommendation to make nuts part of healthy food patterns."