LONG TERM ASSOCIATION OF NUT CONSUMPTION AND CARDIOMETABOLIC RISK FACTORS

Background and Aim: The longitudinal associations between nut consumption and cardiometabolic risk factors are not well-known. We aimed to investigate the relationship between nut consumption and the cardiometabolic risk factors, including dyslipidemia, hypertension, DM and obesity in a cohort of healthy Iranian adults.Methods: The study was conducted within the framework of the Isfahan Cohort Study (ICS) among 1387 participants free of any cardiovascular diseases. Participants were followed for 12 years. Validated food frequency questionnaire, anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, fasting serum lipids and blood sugars were evaluated in three phases of the study. Mixed effect Logistic and Cumulative Logistic regressions were applied to evaluate the longitudinal associations between nut consumption and cardiometabolic risk factors. Associations were evaluated across the tertiles of nut consumption.Results: A greater intake of nuts was associated with lower occurrence of hypercholesterolemia [OR (95% CI): 0.76 (0.60-0.97); P=0.025], hypertriglyceridemia [OR (95% CI): 0.74 (0.58-0.93); P=0.011] and obesity [OR (95% CI): 0.79 0.50-0.98); P=0.033], but increased risk of diabetes [OR (95% CI): 1.85 (1.27-2.68); P=0.001]. However, after adjusting for various potential confounders, the associations remained significant only for obesity [OR (95% CI): 0.67 (0.48-0.94); P=0.018] and diabetes mellitus [OR (95% CI): 2.23 (1.37-3.64); P=0.001] occurrence. Conclusion: Nut consumption was associated with a decreased risk of obesity, but an increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus occurrence after controlling for potential confounders. The public health inference of our findings is adding nuts to the usual diet but not in the high risk groups such as diabetic patients.

Keywords:

Nuts , cardiovascular disease , dyslipidemia , diabetes mellitus , obesity , hypertension