A study of more than 6,000 women between 1980 and 2002 showed that those who ate lots of peanut butter or nuts slashed their heart disease risk by almost 50%
The survey also recorded the number of women suffering from things like heart attack or stroke, or needing revascularisation treatment (surgery to improve blood circulation)
There were 52 coronary "events" like heart attack or revascularisation and 182 cases of stroke.
At the start of the study women who consumed more nuts and peanut butter were leaner, more physically active, and tended to smoke less and after adjustments for factors that could influence the results, it was found that women who ate at least five servings a week of nuts or peanut butter had a 44% lower risk of heart disease and events like heart attack or stroke.
(A serving is defined as 28g of nuts or 16g (one tablespoon) of peanut butter)
The Havard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health authors said: "These data suggest that frequent nut and peanut butter consumption is associated with a significantly lower CVD risk in women with Type 2 diabetes."
The British Heart Foundation says that it is beneficial to include nuts in our diets as they are low in the saturated fats that raise our cholesterol, but peanut products can be full of added sugar or salt so check the label first as this may cancel out their positive benefits. Also don't forget that nuts are high in overall calor
BUT eating more of one food in isolation won't make much difference to your health if you're inactive and don't have a balanced diet - preventing heart disease is more complicated than just eating peanuts
The research was published in The Journal of Nutrition.
Excercise is a vital part of staying fit and healthy. Did you know that there's a gym specially for women in Stamford? find out all about it here
