Study: Eat More Nuts To Ward Off Certain Cancers

Eating nuts is associated with a reduced risk of certain cancers, but does not reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to a recent study.

In order to clarify the association between nut consumption and the risk of cancer and type 2 diabetes, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of data from 36 relevant observational studies including 30,708 participants.

Levels of nut consumption ranged from eating no nuts to eating nuts more than 7 times a week.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

RELATED CONTENT
A Handful of Nuts a Day Could Reduce Risk of Death
Could Eating Nuts Lower Mortality Risk?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Overall, participants with the highest levels of nut consumption had lower risk of colorectal cancer in 3 studies (RR 0.76, 95% CI 0.61-0.96), of endometrial cancer in two studies (RR 0.58, 95% CI 0.43-0.79), pancreatic cancer in one study (RR 0.68, 95% CI 0.48-0.96), and cancer incidence (RR 0.85, 95% CI 0.76-0.95), than those with the lowest levels of nut consumption.

High levels of nut consumption were not, however, associated with lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes or other forms of cancer, including breast, gastric, ovarian, prostate, or stomach cancer.

“[N]ut consumption was inversely associated with risk of colorectal cancer, endometrial cancer, and pancreatic cancer, but not other types of cancer or type 2 diabetes,” the researchers concluded.

“Given the scarcity of currently available data, however, evidence from additional studies is required to more precisely determine the relationship between nut consumption and risk of individual cancer types.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Wu L, Wang Z, Zhu J, et al. Nut consumption and risk of cancer and type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutrition Reviews. 2015 June 16 [epub ahead of print] DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuv006.