Replacing less healthy foods with nuts could help lower risk of long-term weight gain

People who ate a daily half-serving of nuts (about a handful) instead of the same amount of refined grains, red meat, or dessert gained less weight over a 24-year study period than those who ate nuts less frequently, according to a new study led by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Overall, study participants gained an average of 0.32kg (0.7lbs) each year. Those who ate more nuts gained around 0.4kg (0.88lbs) less over each four-year interval of the study.

Xiaoran Liu, a research associate in the Department of Nutrition, said in a September 25, 2019 Diabetes.co.uk article, “Incorporating nuts as part of a healthy dietary pattern by replacing less healthful foods may help mitigate the gradual weight gain common during adulthood and beneficially contribute to the prevention of obesity.”

Read the Diabetes.co.uk article: Nut consumption could help to prevent weight gain, study suggests