Nuts are great food.Though they’re small in size, nuts of all types pack a nutritional wallop – and they provide a number of health benefits for aging people. Research suggests eating nuts can lower your risk of cancer and protect your heart health.
Eating Nuts are great food for older people
For example, a meta-analysis published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention in 2020 concluded that there is “an inverse association of nut consumption with cancer risk, especially for cancers from the digestive system.”
Another meta-analysis, published in 2019 in the journal Nutrition Reviews, concluded there is “a beneficial role of nut consumption in reducing the incidence of, and mortality from, different (cardiovascular disease) outcomes.”
Here are six ways nuts help protect your health as you age:
1. Healthier heart
When it comes to heart health, you’ve probably heard that you should limit the amount of fat you consume, says Courtney Barth, a registered dietitian with Cleveland Clinic. Older people in particular need to safeguard their heart health.
That's because people age 65 and older, according to the National Institute on Aging, are much more likely to suffer serious cardiovascular-related health problems, including:
- Heart attack.
- Stroke.
- Heart disease.
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2. Sharper mind
There are two main types of fats: saturated and unsaturated. Research suggests that consuming saturated fats can elevate your levels of "bad" cholesterol, which can increase your risks of heart disease and stroke. The American Heart Association recommends consuming a diet limiting your consumption of foods with saturated fat to 5% to 6% of your daily calories. For example, if you need about 2,000 calories a day, no more than 120 of them should come from saturated fat – or about 13 grams of saturated fat per day.
You should generally limit or avoid saturated fats, which can be found in such foods as:
Consuming foods with unsaturated fats, on the other hand, can help lower your "bad" cholesterol. Nuts contain unsaturated fats, which research suggests help:
Consuming nuts – particularly walnuts – can help keep your mind sharp, Barth says. Walnuts are high in omega-3 fatty acids, a kind of unsaturated fat. Research suggests this type of fat is associated with reducing inflammation in different parts of the body, including the brain.
A meta-analysis published in the journal Public Health Nutrition in 2020 found “an association between walnut consumption and cognitive function in older adults.” The research suggests that individuals who consume 1 ounce (about ¼ cup) of walnuts on a daily basis had greater cognitive baseline scores compared with people who didn’t. The research, however, did not show that eating walnuts protected you against age-related cognitive decline.
