More positive news. Nuts are okay. Apparently, you don’t gain weight and they decrease the risk of gaining a lot of weight or becoming obese. For me, that is not a shock since the impact of nuts on hunger is clear.

• Liu Xiaoran, Li Yanping, Guasch-Ferré Marta, et al. Changes in nut consumption influence long-term weight change in US men and women. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health. August 27, 2019:bmjnph-2019-000034. doi:10.1136/bmjnph-2019-000034.

Peanuts are cheap and safe, ditto peanut butter from them. Organic peanuts are the far better peanut choice. They are grown differently than the non-organic version since they grow above ground. The non-organic versions are the ones that get mold from being in the ground and thus you must roast them (and destroy most of the useful other nutrients). So, if someone can handle the squishiness of raw organic peanuts, I think they are one of the best foods around.

Then come walnuts and pecans (not cheap). Sadly, those cashews (not really healthy) and almonds (horrible for the planet) aren’t great choices.

Increasing daily consumption of nuts is associated with less long-term weight gain and a lower risk of obesity in adults. Replacing 0.5 servings/day of less healthful foods with nuts may be a simple strategy to help prevent gradual long-term weight gain and obesity.

The average weight gain across the three cohorts was 0.32 kg each year. Increases in nut consumption, per 0.5 servings/day (14 g), was significantly associated with less weight gain per 4-year interval (p<0.01 for all):

• −0.19 kg (95% CI -0.21 to -0.17) for total consumption of nuts,
• -0.37 kg (95% CI -0.45 to -0.30) for walnuts,
• -0.36 kg (95% CI -0.40 to -0.31) for other tree nuts, and
• -0.15 kg (95% CI -0.19 to -0.11) for peanuts.

Increasing intakes of nuts, walnuts, and other tree nuts by 0.5 servings/day was associated with a lower risk of obesity. The multivariable-adjusted RR for total nuts, walnuts, and other tree nuts was 0.97 (95% CI 0.96 to 0.99, p=0.0036), 0.85 (95% CI 0.81 to 0.89, p=0.0002), and 0.89 (95% CI 0.87 to 0.91, p<0.0001), respectively. Increasing nut consumption was also associated with a lower risk of gaining ≥2 kg or ≥5 kg (RR 0.89–0.98, p<0.01 for all).

The point is you don’t gain weight from eating recommended servings of nuts, not that you lose a significant amount of weight. But curbing weight gain while gaining nutrition is an important factor to consider. Make healthy choices and get healthy outcomes.