Peanut consumption could reduce the risk of heart disease

Including a moderate amount of (non-salted) peanuts in your diet may help cut the risk of you developing heart disease or dying prematurely, according to a new study.
The importance of including peanuts in your diet is stressed further due to the affordability of them, with people from both rich and poor backgrounds being able to afford them quite easily. The results were positive, regardless of other health conditions such as obesity and diabetes.
Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the study used data from 72,000 low-income Americans (both men and women, of white and black ethnicity) and 134,000 Chinese people who live in Shanghai. Their results showed that there is a considerable link between the consumption of peanuts and lower levels rates of heart disease and premature deaths.
Led by Dr Shu of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in America, the team focused on three populations of poor people, the first such study to analyse results from people at the lower-end of the socio-economic scale.
Peanuts were found to have helped reduce the risk of death by 21 per cent in the US group, when comparing those who consumed the most peanuts to those who did not regularly include them in their diets. This figure was 17 per cent for the Chinese group.
Commenting on the findings, the report’s authors said: “We found consistent evidence that high nut/peanut consumption was associated with a reduced risk of total mortality and cardiovascular disease mortality.”
However, the scientists want to highlight that we should not simply consume many peanuts and expect to be protected against cardiovascular diseases, but instead look to include moderate amounts of them in a balanced diet, in an attempt to improve our health.