Higher intake of nuts increases blood sugar, not good for diabetics

Nut consumption lowers obesity risk but increases blood sugar levels and therefore not good for diabetics.

IRAN: Nuts are often considered as the healthiest snack to munch on and are packed with a number of beneficial nutrients. Now, a recent study has found that nut consumption increases blood sugar levels and therefore not advisable to diabetics. In contrast, nut consumption was found to lower the risk of obesity.

"Nuts incorporation into people’s usual diet may have beneficial effects for individuals with lower risk, such as non-diabetic subjects," the authors write in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases.

The long term associations between nut consumption and cardiometabolic risk factors are not well-known. Fahimeh Haghighatdoost, School of Nutrition and Food Science, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran, and colleagues investigated the relationship between nuts and cardiometabolic risk factors, including dyslipidemia, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, blood sugar levels and obesity in a cohort of Iranian adults.

The study involved analysis of 1387 healthy participants within the framework of the Isfahan Cohort Study. The individuals were then followed for 12 years. A validated food frequency questionnaire was completed and anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, and fasting serum lipids and blood sugar were evaluated in three phases. The participants were classified based on the tertiles of nuts consumption as cut-points and associations were evaluated between the thirds of nut intake.

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