Nuts to You

Around the office, we've started to eat nuts.  We like pistachios, walnuts, almonds, macadamia nuts, brazil nuts, hazelnuts, cashews and pecans.  We like them, partly, because they're tasty.  And we like them, partly because they're good for our hearts.

As it turns out:

• Nuts are packed with antioxidants--which protect against the cell damage that contributes to heart disease.
• Nuts are rich in omega-3 fatty acids--often found in fish--which prevent arrhythmias, another cause of heart attacks.  
  
• Most nuts are loaded with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated, or "good" fats, that can help lower LDL, or "bad" cholesterol.
• Many nuts contain vitamin E, which helps stop the development of plaques.

Even better: A new Harvard study suggests that people who eat nuts are less likely to die than people who don't.  In almost 120,000 adults, tracked over nearly 30 years, the benefits of nut eating were stark.  People who ate nuts less than once a week had a 7% reduction in mortality; once a week, 11%; 2-4 times a week, 13%; 5-6 times per week, 15%; and 7 or more times a week, 20%.

And nut eaters stayed slimmer, believe it or not!

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/11/eating-nuts-reduces-risk-of-death/

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-disease/in-depth/nuts/art-20046635