An Umbrella Review of Nuts Intake and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

Title:An Umbrella Review of Nuts Intake and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

Volume: 23 Issue: 7

Author(s): Lukas Schwingshackl*, Georg Hoffmann, Benjamin Missbach, Marta Stelmach-Mardas and Heiner Boeing

Affiliation:

• Arthur-Scheunert-Allee 114- 116; 14558 Nuthetal,Germany

Keywords: Nuts intake, blood lipids, blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, umbrella review, meta-evidence.

Abstract: Background: Nuts have been an indispensable component of the human diet for hundreds because of their unique nutrient composition and are thought to play a beneficial part in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

Objective: To evaluate the extent, validity and presence of evidence for studies investigating the impact of nuts intake on biomarkers of cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular events, we performed an umbrella review of all published meta-analyses synthesizing data from both observational studies and randomized controlled trials.

Method: PubMed (between 1966 and April 2016) was searched for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Methodological quality was assessed by applying the AMSTAR score (0-11 points), and the meta-evidence by applying NutriGrade, our recently developed scoring system (0-10 points).

Results: In total, 14 meta-analyses were included in the umbrella review. Only 4 out of 14 reported an AMSTAR score ≥8 (high methodological quality), whereas NutriGrade meta-evidence score varied between 2 (very low meta-evidence) and 7.9 (moderate meta-evidence). There is consistent evidence from intervention trials, reporting significant reductions for total cholesterol, and from observational studies that higher intakes of nuts were associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and hypertension. On the other side no effect could be observed for stroke, HDL-cholesterol, and blood pressure in the normal range.

Conclusion: In summary, the present umbrella review showed that nuts intake was associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and hypertension, and lower levels of total cholesterol. The observed evidence is limited by the moderate methodological quality and very low to moderate quality of evidence.

Cite this article as:

Schwingshackl Lukas*, Hoffmann Georg, Missbach Benjamin, Stelmach-Mardas Marta and Boeing Heiner, An Umbrella Review of Nuts Intake and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease, Current Pharmaceutical Design 2017; 23 (7) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1381612822666161010121356

DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1381612822666161010121356	Print ISSN 1381-6128
Publisher Name Bentham Science Publisher	Online ISSN 1873-4286