The body of evidence about nuts and health continues to grow. These local and international research papers, published around August 2023, corroborate decades of research about the importance of a regular handful of nuts within a healthy diet.

Associations of nut consumption with all-cause mortality among individuals with type 2 diabetes. (Zhang et al, 2023).
This prospective, cohort study, involving 5,090 US-based participants with type 2 diabetes, found higher nut consumption was significantly associated with a lower risk of dying from any cause. Compared with those who did not consume nuts, the hazard ratio (95% CI) for those who consumed more than 100g of nuts/week was 0.64 for all-cause mortality. And replacing one serve of red and processed meat, refined grains, eggs, and dairy foods with one serve of nuts was linked with a 18% to 22% lower risk of all-cause mortality.

Association of plant protein intake with risk of incident CKD: A UK Biobank study. (Young Heo et al, 2023).
In this large, prospective cohort study, greater dietary plant protein intake was linked with a lower risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD). It involved 117,809 adults, without CKD at the start of the study, who were tracked for an average (median) of 9.9 years. Participants were grouped into quartiles, based on their plant protein intake. Compared with those who consumed the least plant protein (the lowest quartile), the adjusted hazard ratios for the second, third, and highest quartiles of plant protein intake were 0.90, 0.83, and 0.82, respectively.

Recent advances on the effect of nut consumption on cognitive improvement. (Wu et al, 2023).
This review article summarises the effect of nut consumption on oxidative stress, inflammation, and the gut microbiota, which all impact cognitive function. It outlines findings from observational studies, suggesting nut consumption is linked with a lower incidence of cognitive disorders. The researchers also outline the potential biological mechanisms behind this, including the synergistic action between all nut constituents, such as unsaturated fatty acids, bioactive peptides, and polyphenols. They say that further large-scale clinical trials are still required in this area.

Association of a Mediterranean lifestyle with all-cause and cause-specific mortality: A prospective study from the UK Biobank. (Maroto-Rodriguez et al, 2023).
This prospective cohort study found higher adherence to the Mediterranean lifestyle was linked with lower all-cause and cancer mortality in British adults, in a dose-response manner. It involved 110,799 participants, aged 40 to 75 years, without cardiovascular disease or cancer at baseline, who were tracked over a median of 9.4 years. It used the MEDLIFE index to compare quartiles of study participants. It concluded that adopting a Mediterranean lifestyle, locally adapted to non-Mediterranean populations, may be possible and part of a healthy lifestyle.

Vegans, vegetarians, fish-eaters, and meat-eaters in the UK show discrepant environmental impacts. (Scarborough et al, 2023).
This in-depth study links dietary data, from a sample of 55,504 vegans, vegetarians, fish-eaters, and meat-eaters, with a range of environmental indicators, from a review of 570 life-cycle assessments. It found a strong positive link between the amount of animal-based foods in a diet and its environmental impact. Dietary impacts of vegans were 25.1% of the high meat-eaters (≥100g total meat consumed per day) for greenhouse gas emissions, 25.1% for land use, 46.4% for water use, 27% for eutrophication, and 34.3% for biodiversity. In other words, dietary shifts away from animal-based foods could make a substantial contribution to reduction of the UK environmental footprint.

Pistachios as a recovery food following downhill running exercise in recreational team-sport individuals. (Philpott et al, 2023).
This randomised, cross-over trial, involved 18 male team-sport players, explored the impact of daily pistachio consumption on muscle soreness and function after exercise-induced muscle damage. Eating 85g/day of pistachios, for 2-weeks prior to and during recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage, significantly reduced muscle soreness in the non-dominant limb knee extensors, compared to control (no pistachios) – with the researchers suggesting this may be due to a blunting of the inflammation response. Pistachio intake had no effect on muscle function.