Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Jun;89(6):1913-9.
doi: 10.3945/ajcn.2008.27276. Epub 2009 Apr 29.

Prospective study of nut consumption, long-term weight change, and obesity risk in women

Maira Bes-Rastrollo  1 , Nicole M Wedick, Miguel Angel Martinez-Gonzalez, Tricia Y Li, Laura Sampson, Frank B Hu
Affiliations

Prospective study of nut consumption, long-term weight change, and obesity risk in women

Maira Bes-Rastrollo et al. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Jun.

Abstract

Background: Data concerning the long-term association between nut consumption and weight change in a free-living population are sparse.

Objective: The objective was to determine the relation between nut consumption and long-term weight change.

Design: The participants were 51,188 women in the Nurses' Health Study II aged 20-45 y, who had no cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or cancer. We prospectively evaluated the dietary intake of nuts and subsequent weight changes from 1991 to 1999.

Results: Women who reported eating nuts > or =2 times/wk had slightly less mean (+/- SE) weight gain (5.04 +/- 0.12 kg) than did women who rarely ate nuts (5.55 +/- 0.04 kg) (P for trend < 0.001). For the same comparison, when total nut consumption was subdivided into peanuts and tree nuts, the results were similar (ie, less weight gain in women eating either peanuts or tree nuts > or =2 times/wk). The results were similar in normal-weight, overweight, and obese participants. In multivariate analyses in which lifestyle and other dietary factors were controlled for, we found that greater nut consumption (> or =2 times/wk compared with never/almost never) was associated with a slightly lower risk of obesity (hazard ratio: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.57, 1.02; P for trend = 0.003).

Conclusions: Higher nut consumption was not associated with greater body weight gain during 8 y of follow-up in healthy middle-aged women. Instead, it was associated with a slightly lower risk of weight gain and obesity. The results of this study suggest that incorporating nuts into diets does not lead to greater weight gain and may help weight control.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Hu FB, Willett WC. Optimal diets for prevention of coronary heart disease. JAMA 2002;288:2569–78 - PubMed
    1. Ros E, Mataix J. Fatty acid composition of nuts—implications for cardiovascular health. Br J Nutr 2006;96:S29–35 - PubMed
    1. Salas-Salvadó J, Bulló M, Pérez-Heras A, Ros E. Dietary fibre, nuts and cardiovascular diseases. Br J Nutr 2006;96(suppl 2):S46–51 - PubMed
    1. Jiang R, Manson JE, Stampfer MJ, Liu S, Willett WC, Hu FB. Nut and peanut butter consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes in women. JAMA 2002;288:2554–60 - PubMed
    1. Jiang R, Jacobs DR, Mayer-Davis E, et al. Nut and seed consumption and inflammatory markers in the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis. Am J Epidemiol 2006;163:222–31 - PubMed

Publication types