Health Benefits of Nut Consumption in Middle-Aged and Elderly Population

Abstract

Aging is considered the major risk factor for most chronic disorders. Oxidative stress and chronic inflammation are two major contributors for cellular senescence, downregulation of stress response pathways with a decrease of protective cellular activity and accumulation of cellular damage, leading in time to age-related diseases. This review investigated the most recent clinical trials and cohort studies published in the last ten years, which presented the influence of tree nut and peanut antioxidant diets in preventing or delaying age-related diseases in middle-aged and elderly subjects (≥55 years old). Tree nut and peanut ingestion has the possibility to influence blood lipid count, biochemical and anthropometric parameters, endothelial function and inflammatory biomarkers, thereby positively affecting cardiometabolic morbidity and mortality, cancers, and cognitive disorders, mainly through the nuts’ healthy lipid profile and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms of actions. Clinical evidence and scientific findings demonstrate the importance of diets characterized by a high intake of nuts and emphasize their potential in preventing age-related diseases, validating the addition of tree nuts and peanuts in the diet of older adults. Therefore, increased consumption of bioactive antioxidant compounds from nuts clearly impacts many risk factors related to aging and can extend health span and lifespan.

Effect of a 12-Week Almond-Enriched Diet on Biomarkers of Cognitive Performance, Mood, and Cardiometabolic Health in Older Overweight Adults

“…Habitual nut intake has long been associated with cardiovascular benefits including reduced risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) [1], decreased incidence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) [2], and decreased risk of type II diabetes [3]. Tree nuts are an important source of nutrients, containing phytochemicals, antioxidants, and a healthy lipid profile (rich in mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids), all of which are thought to mediate the beneficial cardiovascular and metabolic effects through altered lipid metabolism, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory mechanisms [4].…”

Pharmacological Activities of Psoralidin: A Comprehensive Review of the Molecular Mechanisms of Action

“…PSO has a lot of beneficial health effects as an antibacterial against gram-negative and gram-positive germs (Borate et al, 2014), antioxidant (Xiao et al, 2010), anti-inflammatory modulating the inhibition of proinflammatory cytokines (Lee et al, 2012), antimycobacterial (Khushboo et al, 2010), antipsoriatic (Dwarampudi et al, 2012), and antidepressant (Yi et al, 2008). Besides, PSO possesses osteoblast proliferation-stimulating effects (Larsson and Fazzalari, 2014), estrogenic-like effects (Xin et al, 2019), and antitumor properties (Szliszka et al, 2011;Luo et al, 2013;Pal et al, 2017a;Badarau et al, 2019;Rusu et al, 2019). PSO is a natural phenolic coumarin in the same class with isopsoralen, psoralen, bakuchiol, bakuchalcone, flavones, and bavachinin (Zhang et al, 2016) isolated and identified from the seeds of the medicinal plant Cullen corylifolium.…”

Association of Adherence to Specific Mediterranean Diet Components and Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Young Adults

“…Nuts have numerous biologically active compounds, including carotenoids, polyphenols, phytosterols, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of these substances might act synergistically in lowering risk factors related to some age-related diseases and highlight the importance of including nuts in a healthy diet [5].The most common edible nuts are walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, and peanuts. These four types represent 95% of the total nut intake in the Spanish population [6].…”