Associations of Nut Consumption with All-Cause Mortality among Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes.

Background: Nuts are energy-dense, high-fat foods, and whether nut consumption influences mortality risk among individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) remains unclear.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the associations of nut consumption with all-cause mortality among adults with T2D and to further explore the potential mediation effects of cardiometabolic biomarkers.

Methods: The current analysis included 5090 US participants with T2D from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2014). Cox proportional hazards models were conducted to estimate hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI).

Results: After 35,632 person-y of follow-up, 1174 deaths were documented. Higher nut consumption was significantly associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality among individuals with T2D. After multivariable adjustment including lifestyles and dietary factors, diabetes duration, and glycated hemoglobin, compared with participants who did not consume nuts, the HR (95% CI) for those who consumed nuts over 3.5 ounce equivalent (oz.eq)/wk was 0.64 (0.50, 0.82; P-trend < 0.001) for all-cause mortality. A linear dose-response relationship was observed between nut consumption and all-cause mortality among individuals with T2D (P=0.004, P=0.35). In substitution analyses, replacing one serving of red and processed meat, refined grains, eggs, and dairy foods with one serving of nuts was associated with a 18% to 22% lower risk of all-cause mortality. In addition, mediation analysis suggested that C-reactive protein and γ-glutamine transaminase explained 6.7% and 9.1% of the relationship between nut consumption with all-cause mortality, respectively.

Conclusions: Higher nut consumption was significantly associated with lower all-cause mortality among individuals with T2D. These findings indicate a potential benefit of nut consumption in the prevention of premature death among individuals with T2D.