More and more research findings are pointing towards nuts as an essential in the quest for a healthier heart.

Till recently nuts have been blacklisted due to their high content of fat. Yet this fat -specifically monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat , is now being proved to be associated with heart health. Both of these unsaturated fats have the ability to reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad" cholesterol. Still the key is, moderate consumption.

Moderate nut consumption; as little as two servings per week, may ward off heart disease and lower the risk of heart attack according to several findings. One such was part of the Nurses' Health Study published in the British Medical Journal in 1998. The study looked at the health of more than 86,000 women. It found that those who ate 142 grams (five ounces) of nuts per week were 35 per cent less likely to develop heart disease than women who ate less than one ounce per week.

Similarly, after looking at findings from the U.S Physicians Health Study, Harvard researchers found that men who ate nuts two or more times per week were 47 per cent less likely to die of a heart attack and 30 per cent less likely to die of heart disease than men who rarely ate nuts. These findings were published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2002.