I noticed recently that advertisements for peanuts had been boasting their effectiveness in reducing the risk of heart disease. Of course, thats difficult to believe at first glance.  When looking further onto the cans of these products they are even certified by the American Heart Association. This led me to believe that this might not be just a marketing trick, this could be true.

The peanut institute contends that eating peanuts only twice a week can reduce your risk of heart disease by 24%. This interesting fact is supported by a study shown by the peanut institute that examined peanuts and peanut products in participants diets and found that participants who ate these products had both lower cholesterol and triglycerides which in turn are good measurements of heart health. The peanut institute, which i’m sure is much in favor of the promotion of eating peanuts gives tons of resources in support of the health benefits of peanuts, so I thought, maybe its just bias?

https://amazingraze.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Nuts-1.jpg

The peanut advertisements and the peanut institute are supported by the FDA which made a statement making it very clear that “an ounce of peanuts a day may help reduce the risk of heart disease.” However, in order to protect against confounding variables, possible study errors,and results due to chance the FDA also makes many disclaimers stating that the evidence does not “prove” the peanuts reduce the risk of heart disease but rather “may reduce” it. This small discrepancy is crucial to the message here.

A Harvard University study saw similar results from its over 3 million participants. The more peanuts the participants ate, the lower the risk seemed to me for heart disease and other illnesses. This study is said to have adjusted for other risk factors however once again, we can’t truly rule out chance. Peanuts are commonly known to be a nice snack, whether alone or possibly with some trail mix. To think that there is a strong possibility that this small, crunchy, snack could be saving our lives little by little could influence people the next time they’re in the store looking for lunch. I”l definitely keep nuts in mind