This Snack Swap Could Help Manage Blood Sugar & Prevent Metabolic Disease

There's no shortage of nutrition advice out there when it comes to eating right and feeling your best, but if there's one thing that research consistently finds to be true, it's that nuts are a great edition to a well-rounded diet.

In fact, according to research published in the journal Nutrients1, snacking on nuts could even be a way to curb metabolic syndrome risk in young adults. Here's what they found.

Studying nut consumption and metabolic syndrome risk

For this study, researchers from Vanderbilt University wanted to assess how nut consumption might influence metabolic syndrome risk. Metabolic syndrome includes a number of different conditions like high blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, etc., which are all associated with a higher risk of stroke, diabetes, and heart disease.

They conducted a randomized intervention trial that lasted 16 weeks, with 84 young adults between the ages of 22 and 26 that had BMIs above the healthy range.

All the participants had to do? Swap a typical carb-heavy afternoon snack for tree nuts. More specifically, the tree nuts snacks were comprised of a ¼ cup of unsalted raw cashews, pistachios, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, walnuts, and almonds.

After the 16 weeks, all participants snacking on tree nuts daily experienced reductions in triglycerides. Furthermore, female participants benefited from a reduction in waist circumference and visceral fat, while male participants saw lowered blood insulin levels, compared to those not eating nuts. 

Overall, swapping in nuts for an otherwise carb-heavy snack helped women reduce their metabolic syndrome risk by 67%, and men, 42%.

What to do about it

According to the study authors, their findings suggest that daily tree nut consumption can help reduce metabolic syndrome risk by "improving waist circumference, lipid biomarkers, and/or insulin sensitivity—without requiring caloric restriction."

And that's good news for anyone who wants to mind their metabolic health. After all, metabolic syndrome affects one in every three people here in the U.S.2, and it's a major risk factor for serious diseases.

Plus, considering nuts are high in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and antioxidants, minding your metabolic health is just one more reason to include them in your daily diet.

The takeaway

There are so many reasons to incorporate more nuts into your diet, and this research can be added to the list. With just a quarter cup a day for 16 weeks, this research says, you could significantly lower your metabolic syndrome risk with no other dietary changes.