In a study published in the July 1992 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine , researchers from Loma Linda, sifting through data from 34,000 men and women in what's known as the Seventh Day Adventist Study, found that nut eaters were half as likely as those who didn't eat nuts to suffer both fatal and nonfatal heart attacks. Part of the answer has to do with the kind of fat nuts contain. The real danger to heart and arteries is posed by saturated fats, which show up mostly in meat and high-fat dairy products like cheese, cream, and whole milk. The fat in most nuts, in contrast, is un saturated. Cashews, almonds, and peanuts are loaded with monounsaturated fats, and walnuts are rich in a form of omega 3 fatty acids, polyunsaturated fats similar to the oils found in fish like salmon.
Nuts pack plenty of other nutritional benefits.
They're high in fiber, which has been shown to help keep cholesterol levels down. And they're loaded with the antioxidant vitamin E, which is linked in some studies to a lower risk of heart disease. Nutritionists also have long known that nuts are a great source of protein. Indeed, the protein in nuts is unusually rich in an amino acid called arginine, which may also be linked to its heart benefits. Arginine makes possible the synthesis of nitric oxide, which widens and relaxes blood vessels according to Gene Spiller, PhD, founder of the Health Research and Studies Center in Palo Alto, Calif., and the author of Healthy Nuts .