by Sylvia Booth Hubbard

Looking for a nutty way to improve your health? Nuts offer a wealth of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients in a compact, portable, and tasty package. Scientific research indicates that nuts can help prevent or fight a number of diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and macular degeneration. Moderation seems to be the key, and a handful every day provides health benefits. So enjoy them daily — just don’t go nuts — and help protect yourself against the following eight ailments.

1. Heart disease
A study of 31,000 Seventh-day Adventists at Loma Linda University in California found that eating a serving of nuts daily (about a quarter of a cup – or one handful) lowered the risk of heart attack by up to 60 percent when compared with those who ate nuts less than once a month. The Iowa Women's Healthy Study found that women who ate a serving of nuts more than four times a week lowered their risk of dying of heart disease by 430 percent. Another study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health found similar results, and the Physician’s Health Study found that men who ate nuts at least twice a week reduced their risk of sudden cardiac death.

2. High cholesterol
Several large studies have shown that eating nuts frequently, especially almonds, walnuts, macadamias, and hazelnuts, decreases the risk of heart disease by 30 to 50 percent. Studies have shown that eating nuts reduces low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol or “bad” cholesterol, 8 percent to 12 percent, and reduces the buildup of plaque in blood vessels. Although all types of nuts lower cholesterol, a study at Penn State University found that pistachios were especially effective in lowering the amount of oxidized cholesterol, believed to be more deadly than simply elevated cholesterol, because it speeds up deposits of plaque in arteries. Because they are smaller than other nuts, you can eat more in one serving – 1.5 ounces of pistachios is about 60 nuts.

3. High blood pressure
Nuts are rich in magnesium, a mineral called “nature’s calcium channel blocker” because of its ability to regulate calcium. Blocking calcium channels in nerves keeps them less active and more relaxed, thus lowering blood pressure. Almonds, Brazil nuts, and cashews are especially good sources of magnesium.

Research at Penn State University found that eating 1.5 ounces of pistachios (about 60 nuts) daily for four weeks reduced the effects of stress on blood pressure. Stress was induced by either having young men do a math test or by having them put one foot in a bucket of ice water for two-and-a-half minutes. In both situations, the rise in blood pressure due to stress was significantly less among men who regularly ate pistachios.

4. Diabetes
Nuts may be a key in controlling Type 2 diabetes. A three-month study by researchers at the University of Toronto tested 117 patients who used oral medications to control their diabetes. They were divided into three groups and given three different supplement options — mixed nuts, mixed nuts and muffins, or all muffins. Each option contained the same number of calories. The group given the supplement of all nuts showed a significant improvement in the ability to manage glucose.

"This is the largest study done to date looking at the effect of tree nuts (almonds, Brazils, cashews, hazelnuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, macadamias, and walnuts) and peanuts on Type 2 diabetes,” Dr. Cyril Kendall of the University of Toronto, said in a statement. “If improvements in glycemic control can be achieved by dietary changes, this would make a substantial contribution to the treatment of those with Type 2 diabetes.”

5. Alzheimer’s
Research by the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging found that walnuts improved motor and cognitive skills in older rats. But moderation appears to be the key. Rats who ate more than the human equivalent of more than 1 ounce of walnuts (about 14 walnut halves) daily showed lower long-term memory ability.

Nuts are a rich source of vitamin E, and Swedish researchers found that vitamin E wards off Alzheimer’s. A six-year study of 232 seniors aged 80 or older when the study began found that seniors with the highest amounts of vitamin E in the blood lowered their risk of developing Alzheimer’s by 50 percent when compared to those with the least vitamin E in their bodies.

6. Macular degeneration
This eye disease is the leading cause of blindness in the United States, but The Eye Digest reported that one study found eating one serving of nuts daily (about a quarter of a cup) reduced the progression of the disease by 40 percent. Harvard researchers found that, in general, the more fat, such as meat, processed baked goods, or dairy products, people ate, the faster their disease progressed. The one exception was nuts. Those who ate one or more servings (about 16 pieces of mixed nuts) each week cut the progression of vision loss in half.

7. Gall stones
About 1 million new cases of gall stones are diagnosed each year, but a study from the Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that nuts lower a woman’s risk. A study of more than 80,000 women who were a part of the Nurses’ Health Study found that women who ate more than 5 ounces of nuts weekly (about a cup) lowered their risk of gall stones by 25 percent when compared to women who ate less than1 ounce each month.

8. Prostate cancer
A study presented at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society indicated that walnuts could be an ally in fighting prostate cancer. Researchers added walnuts to the diets of mice that had been genetically programmed to develop prostate cancer. After two months, the mice developed cancers that were 50 percent smaller and grew 30 percent slower than the cancers of mice that weren’t fed walnuts. Scientists theorize that walnuts lower levels of two risk factors for prostate cancer: low levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and elevated levels of endothelin.