Nuts as a superfood and new information....

Today's Post:  Friday, 10-12-2012

Several months ago I saw an article which said that people who were not allergic to them who ate a serving of raw nuts once a day lived 5 to 7 years longer than similar people who did not.

That’s so important it’s incredible! But I’ve never seen the information repeated.

That’s the kind of longevity increase and associated better health that stopping smoking or taking up regular and vigorous exercise gives you!!!   Wow!

It’s a huge and significant advantage to the people who eat nuts!

But I keep getting different kinds of supporting information.  So I think this longevity boost is quite real.  See below!

(Important note:  Beside the people who are allergic to tree nuts and who cannot eat nuts there is something else important.

Some commercially available canned or packaged nuts are heavily salted and cooked in oil.

This is about like pouring arsenic in the soup! 

Try to virtually never eat such nuts.

Raw and dry roasted nuts with no salt added ARE a superfood! 

But excessive salt intake HAS recently been nailed by new research as very harmful to eat causing damage to the inner surface of the blood vessels, the endothelium, which then causes chronic inflammation,

excess uric acid and gout,

high blood pressure which then gets even worse if the high salt intake continues –

ALL of which contribute to heart disease and stroke risk.

So super-salted nuts are a BAD idea to eat.

The oils used are mostly soy and corn oil due to their low price.  But those are excessively high in omega 6 oils which also cause inflammation!  Plus virtually all the soy and corn they come from are from GMO crops which we don’t yet know to be safe to eat long term.

So salted and oil roasted nuts in cans or packages are foods to be avoided!)

Meanwhile, raw and dry roasted nuts with no salt added ARE a superfood! 

Their list of health benefits is literally so strong and long that it gives believability to the longevity increase finding.

I just got new information about Brazil nuts so will close with that.  But check this out first.

(Peanuts by the way are NOT tree nuts but a nut like legume more related to soy beans and green peas.  Many people and children are allergic to peanuts and related foods.  And, the positive health profile of real nuts is NOT shared by peanuts.  They have too much omega 6.  Worse, at this writing, many people eat peanut butter to which hydrogenated oils have been added.  Those oils are heart attack starter.  For all these reasons we do NOT recommend peanuts, peanut butter, or peanut oil!)

a)  People who begin eating relatively small amounts of tree nuts regularly find their HDL cholesterol goes up. 

b)  Most people ingest too little magnesium for good health and normal blood pressure and nuts are quite high in magnesium.

c)  Tree nuts, like avocados and extra virgin olive oil are highest in monosaturated fat. So they have very little saturated fat which can be harmful in excess.  Even better, they are quite low in the pro-inflammatory omega 6 oils.  There is even some evidence that the omega 6 oils they do have are far less inflammatory due to their slow release from the fiber and the balance of them with the other oils.  Walnuts are the prime example of this.

d)  People who eat nuts find it far easier to eat less fatty grain fed meats.  Part of the health benefits of eating nuts are from the foods people then eat LESS of.

e)  People who eat nuts find it far easier to avoid sugary and salty packaged foods and treats which is a HUGE health benefit!

f) A related point is this:  People who need to lose fat or avoid gaining it – which is most of us – can safely snack on raw or dry roasted nuts.

Because nuts turn off hunger 4 ways and have zero glycemic effects, research has found that people who eat nuts in any reasonable amount gain….zero weight!

That’s because nuts turn off hunger so incredibly well people who eat them automatically and without effort eat less of other foods!

 That’s despite the high caloric content of nuts. 

Here are the four ways eating nuts turns down hunger.:

1. Nuts are chewy and taste good. 

2. Nuts have enough protein to turn down hunger. 

3. Nuts have enough fiber to turn down hunger. 

4. Nuts have enough health OK oils to turn down hunger.

(Note:  Nut butters such as Almond butter have all the health benefits -- if only the nuts are in them.  But they are so concentrated and less chewy, they do NOT work well for fat loss and often cause fat gain.  They are so good they are also a bit addictive as well.

I should know because allowing myself almond butter recently caused me to go from losing fat and weight to gaining them. I stopped that when I stopped buying and bringing home the almond butter!

Author Tim Ferriss in his 4-Hour Body book says he had the exact same experience also!)

g)  Every single one of the previous health benefits from a) to f) is heart and blood vessel protective.  That means eating tree nuts regularly cuts your risk of getting heart attacks, strokes, PAD – peripheral artery disease, heart failure, strokes, and erectile dysfunction.  This also along with exercise keeps the circulation to your brain good which lowers your risk of Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia!

That longevity increase is beginning to look even better supported.

Could there be more yet?

Yes!

h) Eating nuts helps prevent most cancers!  In addition to helping you avoid excess sugars and omega 6 oils which has that effect, nuts are high in all the parts of the vitamin E complex.

Natural vitamin E from nuts and wheat germ and extra virgin olive oil and avocados helps prevent cancer.

(The recent study with the reverse headlines tested double doses of ARTIFICIAL vitamin E which was already known to be harmful in such doses! 

By contrast, nuts have the real thing!)

In fact the most effective part for cancer prevention of the vitamin E complex is gamma tocopherol NOT the alpha tocopherol.

There is a gamma tocopherol supplement you can get.  But eating nuts and pecans in particular works better and costs less.

Gamma tocopherol specifically helps to prevent prostate cancers.  That likely means that it also helps prevent breast cancer, uterine cancer, and ovarian cancer.

The bonus is that pecans are one of the tastiest nuts!

But there’s more yet.

i) Brazil nuts are high in selenium and eating an average of one a day apparently is more bioavailable and effective at cancer prevention than the 200 mcg a day supplement!

And selenium is an antioxidant with cancer prevention effects.

Would there be some extra benefits to Brazil nuts?

Yes. 

(But first note that if you take 200 mcg a day of selenium and eat an average of one Brazil nut a day plus other nuts adding  more selenium intake is OK.  BUT it begins to edge toward a toxic amount of selenium. So stick to an average of one Brazil nut a day and NOT more than that!)

The other benefits include:

Author Tim Ferriss in his 4-Hour Body book says in his experience eating Brazil nuts with their bioavailable selenium and other ingredients boosted his testosterone and libido!

I tried it and notice little difference.  But he did things like measure his testosterone level to check. So he may be correct.

A study reported in the journal, Nutrition Research,  tested 37 severely obese women. The initial blood level of these woman was low in selenium AND all the other anti-oxidants. 

But after only 8 weeks of eating Brazil nuts their selenium level AND the level of other antioxidants went up.  And, another study of Brazil nuts found that in people who ate them their HDL went up and their LDL and triglycerides went down!

Guess what?  More antioxidants means less oxidized blood lipid or fats  -- PLUS more HDL -- AND  -- lower LDL and triglycerides means dramatically lower risk of heart and blood vessel disease!

PS:  Whole Foods sells bulk raw nuts already shelled for you for reasonable prices!

They have higher quality unsalted and not oiled raw nuts AND for much lower prices than the packaged nuts available elsewhere cost!

I buy walnuts, pecans, and Brazil nuts at the Whole Foods I shop at.