VIDEO: Metabolic syndrome less likely in kids who eat nuts

SAN DIEGO – Encourage teens with metabolic syndrome to snack on nuts; it just might improve their health.

Investigators from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas, found that children who ate 12.9 g of nuts per day – the equivalent of a small handful of peanuts, almonds, walnuts, and the like 3 times a week – had less than half the risk of metabolic syndrome, compared with those who did not, when age, sex, race, household income, and daily intake of sugar, fruits, and vegetables were controlled for (odds ratio, 0.43; 95% confidence interval, 0.20-0.92). The benefit persisted up to about 50 g/day, then tapered off, perhaps because the extra calories offset the metabolic benefit.

Adolescents who ate nuts a few times a week also had lower body mass index z scores, smaller waists, lower systolic blood pressure, and higher HDL cholesterol levels. Similar benefits have been found in adults.

The data come from the 2003-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) of 2,233 12- to 19-year-olds; nut consumption was self-reported.

Pediatrician and lead investigator Dr. Roy Kim stressed that the correlations don’t prove cause and effect. Still, he said he now encourages his patients to eat nuts. He explained why in an interview at a meeting of the Endocrine Society.

aotto@frontlinemedcom.com

SAN DIEGO – Encourage teens with metabolic syndrome to snack on nuts; it just might improve their health.

Investigators from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas, found that children who ate 12.9 g of nuts per day – the equivalent of a small handful of peanuts, almonds, walnuts, and the like 3 times a week – had less than half the risk of metabolic syndrome, compared with those who did not, when age, sex, race, household income, and daily intake of sugar, fruits, and vegetables were controlled for (odds ratio, 0.43; 95% confidence interval, 0.20-0.92). The benefit persisted up to about 50 g/day, then tapered off, perhaps because the extra calories offset the metabolic benefit.

Adolescents who ate nuts a few times a week also had lower body mass index z scores, smaller waists, lower systolic blood pressure, and higher HDL cholesterol levels. Similar benefits have been found in adults.

The data come from the 2003-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) of 2,233 12- to 19-year-olds; nut consumption was self-reported.

Pediatrician and lead investigator Dr. Roy Kim stressed that the correlations don’t prove cause and effect. Still, he said he now encourages his patients to eat nuts. He explained why in an interview at a meeting of the Endocrine Society.

aotto@frontlinemedcom.com

SAN DIEGO – Encourage teens with metabolic syndrome to snack on nuts; it just might improve their health.

Investigators from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas, found that children who ate 12.9 g of nuts per day – the equivalent of a small handful of peanuts, almonds, walnuts, and the like 3 times a week – had less than half the risk of metabolic syndrome, compared with those who did not, when age, sex, race, household income, and daily intake of sugar, fruits, and vegetables were controlled for (odds ratio, 0.43; 95% confidence interval, 0.20-0.92). The benefit persisted up to about 50 g/day, then tapered off, perhaps because the extra calories offset the metabolic benefit.

Adolescents who ate nuts a few times a week also had lower body mass index z scores, smaller waists, lower systolic blood pressure, and higher HDL cholesterol levels. Similar benefits have been found in adults.

The data come from the 2003-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) of 2,233 12- to 19-year-olds; nut consumption was self-reported.

Pediatrician and lead investigator Dr. Roy Kim stressed that the correlations don’t prove cause and effect. Still, he said he now encourages his patients to eat nuts. He explained why in an interview at a meeting of the Endocrine Society.

aotto@frontlinemedcom.com