Eat More Nuts

Only 4 in 10 Americans eat enough heart-healthy nuts each day, says new CDC study.

December 19, 2014

ATLANTA – Nutrition experts advocate including nuts in a heart-healthy diet, but a new study finds that about 60% of Americans don't consume these foods on a daily basis. The study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that about 38% of American adults ate nuts each day, usually in the form of the nuts themselves or in the form of peanut butter or other "nut butters."

According to the study, only about 13% of Americans in the study, which took place in 2009-2010, consumed the recommended amount of nuts (1.5 ounces daily) that would help in reducing heart disease. In 2003, the FDA released a statement that the "scientific evidence suggests, but does not prove, that eating 1.5 ounces per day of most nuts as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease."

The new study "tells us that as a population, we should be regularly consuming more whole nuts and seeds as part of a well-balanced, heart-healthy diet," Danielle Staub, a nutritionist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City (who was not involved in the new research) told the news source HealthDay. The investigators found that women (14%) were more likely to consume nuts on a daily basis than men (12%), and whites were more likely to consume the foods compared to blacks or Hispanics.

According to the NACS State of the Industry Report of 2013 Data, nuts and seeds make up 13.6% of all sales in the salty snacks category, with average annual sales of approximately $9,200. For more information on trends in this growth category, read “Salty Snacking” in the August issue of NACS Magazine.  

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