Daily consumption of nuts lowers risk of early death - study

The International Journal of Epidemiology said a long term study has revealed that daily consumption of certain amount of nuts and peanuts lowers risk of early death caused by many common diseases.

It said on Friday in London that this discovery was contained in a new study recently published.

It said researchers from Maastricht University in the Netherlands collected the dietary and lifestyle data of more than 120,000 Dutchmen and women in 1986.

The Journal said the individuals were aged between 55 to 69 years old.

It said a decade later, when researchers looked at the individuals s mortality rate, they found that there was an average 23 per cent lower risk of 10 year mortality across all diseases among those eating at least 10 grams of nuts or peanuts a day.

The study noted that significant decrease of risk can be seen in some diseases like 45 per cent for neurodegenerative disease, 39 per cent for respiratory disease, 30 per cent for diabetes, according to the research.

The study, however, cautioned that researchers said they would not count peanut butter as a healthy food, as it was high in salt and trans fats. Agency report