Vadivel, V., C.N. Kunyanga, H.K. Biesalski, 2012. Health benefits of nut consumption with special reference to body weight control. Nutrition. 28:1089–1097.
Nuts are an integral part of the Mediterranean food patterns, and their incorporation into the regular diets of human beings is believed to provide many health benefits. The recent recognition of nuts as “heart-healthy” foods by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given a major boost to the positive image of nuts. Nut consumption has been associated with several health benefits, such as antioxidant, hypocholesterolemic, cardioprotective, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and antidiabetic benefits, among other functional properties. However, although nuts possess these many health benefits, their consumption has been hampered by a lack of adequate information regarding those benefits. In addition, because nuts are energy-dense foods with high-fat content, there is a misconception among consumers that increased consumption may lead to unwanted gain in body weight with the risk of developing overweight/obesity. Nonetheless, available epidemiologic studies and short-term controlled feeding trials have supported the theory that the inclusion of nuts in the typical diet does not induce weight gain, despite an expected increase in total caloric intake. To address the misperception about nuts and body weight gain, the present review focuses mainly on the relation between nut consumption and body weight gain, in the context of the many health benefits of nuts.
Kamil, A., C.-Y. O. Chen, 2012. Nuts for diabetes prevention and management. Journal of Food and Drug Analysis. 20(Suppl.1): 323-327.
Type 2 diabetes mellitus is an important preventable disease and a growing public health problem. Epidemiologic and clinical studies suggest that healthy eating, physical activity, and BW control are the main driving forces to reduce diabetes risk. Owing to their low available carbohydrate content, favorable fat and protein profile as well as phytonutrient content, nut consumption has been associated with a reduced risk of development and management of diabetes. Nuts, by virtue of its cardioprotective actions, have also been shown to reduce biomarkers of risk factors for diabetic complications. Although more studies are warranted, the emerging picture is that nut consumption beneficially influences diabetes risk and management beyond blood glucose control.
Tobias, D.K., F.B. Hu, J. Chavarro, B. Rosner, D. Mozaffarian, C. Zhang, 2012. Healthful dietary patterns and Type 2 diabetes mellitus risk among women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus. Arch Intern Med. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2012.3747.
Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has reached epidemic proportions. Women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are at high risk for T2DM after pregnancy. Adherence to healthful dietary patterns has been inversely associated withT2DMin the general population; however, whether these dietary patterns are associated with progression to T2DM among a susceptible population is unknown. Methods: Four thousand four hundred thirteen participants from the Nurses’ Health Study II cohort with prior GDM were followed up from 1991 to 2005. We derived the alternate Mediterranean diet (aMED), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), and alternate Healthy Eating Index (aHEI) dietary pattern adherence scores from a post-GDM validated food-frequency questionnaire, with cumulative average updating every 4 years. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models estimated the relative risk (hazard ratios) and 95% confidence intervals. Results: We observed 491 cases of incident T2DM during 52 743 person-years. All 3 patterns were inversely associated with T2DM risk with adjustment for age, total calorie intake, age at first birth, parity, ethnicity, parental diabetes, oral contraceptive use, menopause, and smoking. When we compared participants with the highest adherence (quartile 4) vs lowest (quartile 1), the aMED pattern was associated with 40% lower risk ofT2DM (hazard ratio, 0.60 [95% CI, 0.44-0.82; P=.002]); the DASH pattern, with 46% lower risk (0.54 [0.39-0.73; P<.001]); and the aHEI pattern, with 57% lower risk (0.43 [0.31-0.59; P<.001]). Adjustment for body mass index moderately attenuated these findings. Conclusions: Adherence to healthful dietary patterns is associated with lower T2DM risk among women with a history of GDM. The inverse associations are partly mediated by body mass index.
Maslova, E., C. Granstrőm, S. Hansen, S.B. Petersen, M. Strøm, W.C. Willett, S.F. Olsen, 2012. Peanut and tree nut consumption during pregnancy and allergic disease in children—should mothers decrease their intake? Longitudinal evidence from the Danish National Birth Cohort. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 130:724-32.
Background: The relation between maternal peanut intake during pregnancy and allergic disease development in children has been controversial. Objective: We used data from the Danish National Birth Cohort to examine associations between maternal peanut and tree nut intake during pregnancy and allergic outcomes in children at 18 months and 7 years of age. Methods: We estimated maternal peanut and tree nut intake (n 5 61,908) using a validated midpregnancy food frequency questionnaire. At 18 months, we used parental report of childhood asthma diagnosis, wheeze symptoms, and recurrent wheeze (>3 episodes). We defined current asthma at 7 years as doctor-diagnosed asthma plus wheeze in the past 12 months and allergic rhinitis as a self-reported doctor’s diagnosis. We also used alternative classifications based on registry-based International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, codes and drug dispensary data. We report here odds ratios (ORs) comparing intake of 1 or more times per week versus no intake. Results: We found that maternal intake of peanuts (OR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.65-0.97) and tree nuts (OR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.67-0.84) was inversely associated with asthma in children at 18 months of age. Compared with mothers consuming no peanuts, children whose mothers reported eating peanuts 1 or more times per week were 0.66 (95% CI, 0.44-0.98) and 0.83 (95% CI, 0.70-1.00) times as likely to have a registry-based and medication related asthma diagnosis, respectively. Higher tree nut intake was inversely associated with a medication-related asthma diagnosis (OR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.73-0.90) and self-reported allergic rhinitis (OR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.64-1.01). Conclusions: Our results do not suggest that women should decrease peanut and tree nut intake during pregnancy; instead, consumption of peanuts and tree nuts during pregnancy might even decrease the risk of allergic disease development in children.
