Dr. Ronald Hoffman Lists the 16 Important Health Benefits of Nuts

New York, NY, July 22, 2015 --(PR.com)-- In his recent article, “16 reasons to go nuts for nuts,” renowned Integrative Physician Dr. Ronald Hoffman underscores the health benefits of nuts.

Hoffman summarizes a New England Journal of Medicine article saying, “consumers of nuts five or more times per week were found to enjoy a 29% reduction in death from heart disease; an 11% reduction in death from stroke; a 23% reduction in death from infection; a 24% reduction in death from respiratory diseases; a 29% reduction in death from kidney disease; and an 11% reduction in death from cancer.”

Here are 16 reasons why people might want to include nuts frequently in their diet.

1) Nuts Are a Perfect Vegan Food: With the current emphasis on plant-based diets, nuts provide a great complement to grains, fruits and vegetables, and legumes. They add protein and healthy oils to balance vegetarian diets that might otherwise tend to be carb-rich and skimpy in beneficial fats and certain vitamins and minerals.

2) Nuts Are Paleo: That is, with the exception of peanuts, which are actually legumes, sometimes spurned by hard-core Paleo adherents because of their lectin content. Tree nuts and seeds are ancient staples of the human diet to which millions of years of evolution have made us well-adapted.

3) Nuts are Low-Carb, low GI: The Glycemic Index, or GI, is a determinant of how quickly the sugars in foods are digested, absorbed, and released into the bloodstream. High-GI foods are thought to overwhelm the body’s sugar-handling capabilities, resulting in progression towards Metabolic Syndrome and diabetes. Nuts are relatively low-carb to begin with, and the carbs they contain are released slowly after a meal. They make a great snack to stave off sugar-craving or hypoglycemia.

4) Nuts promote satiety: While nuts are caloric, eating them promotes a sensation of fullness (satiety) that fends off the munchies for less healthy fat-laden or sugar-laden junk food. Some studies suggest that adding nuts to your diet can actually help you lose weight.

5) Nuts are high in Fiber: While not traditionally thought of as a high-fiber food, nuts are rich in soluble fiber, the best kind for reducing the risk of cancer and heart disease.

6) Nuts are a rich source of phytosterols: These plant sterols are thought to bind to cholesterol and help to sweep it harmlessly out of the body; phytosterols are even recognized by the American Heart Association as a natural way to reduce heart disease risk.

7) Nuts contain healthy fats and oils: Nuts are rich in the essential fatty acids linoleic acid and alpha linolenic acid. Note the word essential: the body cannot make these oils on its own, and we must obtain them from outside sources. Lack of these essential fatty acids can cause dry skin, inflammation, infertility, mood and memory problems, and promote heart disease.

8) Nuts are a great source of vitamin E: Getting your vitamin E from a pill may not be as good as getting natural vitamin E from nuts and seeds. There are actually eight different forms of natural vitamin E tocopherols and tocotrienols: nuts deliver the full spectrum of this critical antioxidant.

9) Nuts are rich in B vitamins: Nuts provide many vital B-complex vitamins such as riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, pantothenic acid, vitamin B-6, and folates.

10) Nuts are a source of critical polyphenols: Polyphenols are plant-derived antioxidants that protect the body from free radicals. Nuts contain a wide variety of polyphenols including resveratrol, lutein, cryptoxanthin and many others. Some seeds, like flaxseed and sesame, are rich in lignans, a specific subtype of polyphenols that may protect against reproductive cancers.

11) Nuts are the richest plant source of zinc: A mineral critical for immunity and reproductive function, strict vegetarians sometimes don’t get enough.

12) Nuts are high in magnesium: Consider magnesium the energy mineral; its lack may be felt as fatigue or irritability and it can even increase the risk of heart problems, diabetes and high blood pressure. Magnesium’s role in bone metabolism is often underestimated.

13) Nuts deliver copper: Unless you fancy liver or oysters, nuts and seeds are your best bet as dietary sources for the essential trace mineral copper.

14) Nuts provide selenium: Just two or three Brazil nuts per day can give you all the immune-boosting selenium your body needs, especially if you’re not fond of fish or meat.

15) Nuts are portable: Unlike baked chicken breast or poached salmon, a small packet of nuts can easily be stashed in your briefcase, purse or backpack, ready to provide an instant, non-perishable hunger-banishing snack in the office, during your commute, or on the trail.

16) Nuts are versatile: They can be used as stand-alone snack foods; spread on sandwiches (with all the nut butter varieties available, you don’t need to get hung up on just traditional PB – try almond, cashew or hazelnut butter, just to name a few); crumbled to add flavor to salads or vegetable side dishes; mixed with grains to provide a taste accent; as a gluten-free crust for baked fish or chicken; substituted for sugary sprinkles to complement your favorite dessert; or even power-blended into your favorite smoothie.

Dr. Ronald Hoffman is a pioneering complementary medicine practitioner, Director of the Hoffman Center for Integrative Medicine based in New York City, and host of the popular and long running syndicated weekly radio program and podcast “Intelligent Medicine.” Read the full article at the Intelligent Medicine website.