Research says nuts could be a valuable and tasty slimming aid. Harvard University researchers recommended people replace unhealthy snacks with a handful of nuts to slow down weight gain. This is especially helpful for people as they get older. The researchers said people who ate 14g of nuts every day gained less weight and were less likely to become obese than those who ate other snacks. The benefits to our weight could be quite small. Eating nuts instead of chocolate and cakes could help prevent a weight gain of just 0.4 to 0.7kg over four years.

The researchers' study was twenty years long. They looked at the lifestyles of 190,000 people. The participants in the research were divided into three groups. They included over 51,000 male health professionals aged 40 to 75, 121,700 nurses aged 35 to 55 and 16,686 nurses aged 24 to 44. Researchers asked them questions every four years about their weight, their exercise, and how often they ate nuts. A researcher said replacing less healthy foods with nuts might help reduce the weight gain that is common as we age, and might lower the chances of becoming obese.