How Can Nuts Help You Lose Weight? — Research on Nuts and Diet

How To Lose 10 To 15 Pounds Every Week

What the studies said about nuts and weightloss Nuts and peanuts do have high concentrations of fat as they are "energy-dense" and have been commonly assumed to contribute to "positive energy balance", meaning you take in more calories than you are burning, leading to weight gain.

Yet the scientific evidence suggests that people who eat more nuts do not actually weigh more than those who don't. On the contrary, statistically, nut-eaters have a lower body mass index (BMI) than people who don't eat nuts, and clinical studies confirm that eating nuts causes little or no weight gain.

In fact, including nuts in your diet is actually associated with more successful weight loss programs. This is because most people find it easier to stick to a moderate-fat diet that incorporates nuts as a regular feature than to a low-fat diet, so they may end up losing more weight while also achieving healthier cholesterol and lipid profiles which are two key factors in coronary heart diseases.

The studies looked at people who added a daily portion of nuts to their diet, with no other diet or lifestyle directions. In one trial, test subjects were told to eat almonds for 15 percent of their daily energy requirement (calories) for six months, with the expectation that participants would gain about 14 pounds. In fact, male subjects gained only 1.4 pounds on average and women gained less than a third of a pound. This was certainly very surprising to the researchers.   Another trial instructed 20 overweight women to eat 60g (344 calories) of almonds each day for 10 weeks. While the researchers anticipated that participants would gain about 7.5 pounds during the study, in fact there was no significant change in their weight. The women's average weight was 70.4 at the beginning of the experiment and 70.3 at the end.

A third study looked at two groups of people on weight loss diets. One group ate almonds, while the other ate complex carbohydrates for a portion of their caloric intake. After 24 weeks, the people who ate the almonds showed greater improvements in weight, body mass, waist size, and body fat [6].

Similar results were found for a moderate-fat diet with 35 percent of calories derived from fat— including nuts: participants were more successful at adhering to the diet and lost more weight.

Mattes and his team concluded that not only can nuts be a part of a weight loss diet without interfering with its success, they may even help dieters stick to their diets and lose more weight.

Why aren't eating nuts fattening?

Given these surprising findings, can scientists now explain why we can eat something that is almost entirely fat, and yet not gain weight.


Four factors were identified and they are:-

• Satiety - Eating nuts makes you satiates you. Nuts have a "fixed energy load" that reduces hunger. Research have looked at the effects of weight, volume, sensory attributes, energy density, macronutrient composition, fatty acid saturation, and low glycemic index, but in the end no single quality seems to account for the appetite satisfying effect of nuts.
  
   
• Dietary Compensation - The satiety properties of nuts offset the majority of their caloric burden because people end up eating less food subsequently. Again, no single component of nuts appears to account for this. It is apparently not just a question of fat content since nuts with very different fat profiles all have the same effect.
  
   
• Efficiency Of Energy Absorption - Ten to twenty percent of the calories in nuts are excreted without being absorbed by the digestive system, particularly when nuts are eaten whole. This is because, unlike other foods, nuts are resistant to enzymatic degradation in the intestines.
  
   
• Increased Energy Expenditure - Eating nuts regularly increases the amount of energy you burn when you are not active—your "resting energy expenditure" (REE). REE increased 11 percent in people who ate a certain quantity of peanuts for 19 weeks.
  
  For an average sized woman, replacing part of her normal calorie intake with peanuts could burn an extra 166 calories automatically each day. If she did not eat anything extra to replace those calories, she could lose more than a pound a month and that is about 17 pounds in a year.
  

Though the exact processes behind these factors are not entirely understood just yet, they nevertheless add up to a convincing set of reasons why eating nuts not only does not necessarily lead to weight gain, but may even help with weight loss.

Despite their fat content, nibbling a few nuts at your next buffet spread may help you feel fuller, eat less and absorb fewer calories. That is certainly very good news for nut lovers who are dieting to lose weight.


Wishing you all the best in your weight loss goal!


Matt Denos

Matt Denos is a scientist and food advocate who closely follows the research progress in the field of diet and weight loss. His site can be visited at diet to go promotional code ediets coupon code discount review of fat loss 4 idiots

References

1. Mattes RD, Kris-Etherton PM, Foster GD, Impact of peanuts and tree nuts on body weight and healthy weight loss in adults. J Nutr. 2008 Sep;138(9):1741S-1745S.


2. Rajaram S, Sabate J. Nuts, body weight and insulin resistance. Br J Nutr. 2006;96:S79–86.


3. McManus K, Antinoro L, Sacks F. A randomized controlled trial of a moderate-fat, low-energy diet compared with a low fat, low-energy diet for weight loss in overweight adults. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2001;25:1503–11.


4. Fraser GE, Bennett HW, Jaceldo KB, Sabate J. Effect on body weight of a free 76 kilojoule (320calorie) daily supplement of almonds for six months. Am J Clin Nutr. 2002;21:275–83.


5. Hollis JH, Mattes RD. Effect of chronic consumption of almonds on body weight in healthy humans. Br J Nutr. 2007;98:651–6.


6. Wien MA, Sabate J, Ikle DN, Cole SE, Kandeel FR. Almonds vs. complex carbohydrates in a weight reduction program. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2003;27:1365–72.


7. Alper CM, Mattes RD. The effects of chronic peanut consumption on energy balance and hedonics. Int J Obes. 2002;26:1129–37.