Could Eating More Nuts Reduce Inflammation?

Consuming 5 or more servings of nuts per week may significantly lower inflammatory biomarkers, according to new research.

Although previous studies have examined the relationship between nut consumption and cardiometabolic health, the association between nut consumption and inflammation was unclear.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

RELATED CONTENT
Could Nuts and Olive Oil Protect Cognitive Function?
A Handful of Nuts a Day Could Reduce Risk of Death
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

To investigate the association, the researchers analyzed data from 5013 adults who did not have diabetes and were participating in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS).

The researchers collected cumulative averages of food frequency questionnaires from the NHS in 1986 and 1990 and from the HPFS in 1990 and 1994, and collected plasma biomarkers from the NHS in 1989-1990 and from the HPFS in 1993-1995.

After adjusting for demographic, medical, and other variables, the researchers found that a higher intake of nuts lowered the amount of inflammatory biomarkers.

Participants who consumed 5 or more servings of nuts per week had lower levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) biomarkers than those who never or rarely ate nuts.

In addition, those who substituted 3 servings of nuts for 3 servings of red meat, processed meat, eggs, or refined grains per week had significantly lower CRP and IL-6 levels.

“Frequent nut consumption was associated with a healthy profile of inflammatory biomarkers,” the researchers concluded.

—Amanda Balbi

Reference:

Yu Z, Malik VS, Keum N, et al. Associations between nut consumption and inflammatory biomarkers [published online July 27, 2016]. Am J Clin Nutr. doi:10.3945/​ajcn.116.134205.