Senior News Line: Eat nuts, live longer

For years, my doctor has been trying to steer me away from peanut butter and toward other nut butters, like almond and cashew, saying they were more nutritious.

Recently, I discovered that a major manufacturer has come out with a line of cashew and almond butters that don’t have all that oil floating on top. I grabbed one of each and compared them to my usual brand of peanut butter – and found no appreciable difference between the types! Calories, proteins and total carbohydrates all were very similar.

And now there’s even more reason to stick with what I like, which is peanut butter: A 30-year Harvard study of nearly 120,000 professionals that looked at consumption of nuts in the diet. Here’s what it learned:

“Increased nut consumption is associated with a reduced risk of major chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.”

The more times per week the participants had nuts, the lower their mortality rate. “Those who consumed nuts seven or more times per week had a 20 percent lower death rate.” It was the same for peanuts and tree nuts, like pistachio, walnut, almond, hazelnut and cashew.

And that isn’t all. The findings jibed with other studies done in the U.S., U.K. and the Netherlands.

Granted, the researchers couldn’t explain exactly why this is so. Do people who eat nuts exercise more? Do they follow a healthier diet? (It was found that nut consumption caused less weight gain and was associated with smaller waists and less risk of obesity.) Therefore they don’t specifically say “eat nuts, live longer.” But there is a correlation, no matter how it works.

Try putting crushed nuts on your salads, yogurt and cereal, or spreading nut butters on crackers or toast. Or just eat them by the handful.

Matilda Charles regrets that she cannot personally answer reader questions, but will incorporate them into her column whenever possible. Send email to [email protected]