Eating Well to Prevent Stroke: Peanuts Are on the Plate

Year Published: 2021

Stroke

Walter N. Kernan , MD

This editorial was a review on the role that peanuts play in the prevention of stroke. It reviewed all the current evidence highlighting the benefits of peanuts for stroke based on a recent Japanese study and called for more large-scale trials to be done.

Key Findings: According to the author: The finding of a beneficial effect of peanuts is almost too good to believe, especially when you consider that the dose of peanuts was only about 0.7 to 4.3 peanuts daily in those who demonstrated benefit and the effect did not increase incrementally across quartiles. Before becoming too doubtful, however, there is other research to support the findings. Ikehara et al remind us of a combined analysis of the US Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professions Follow-up study; participants who consumed peanuts ≥2× a week had a 10% reduction in risk for stroke. If trials confirm a treatment effect on hard end points, however, lifestyle treatment facilities might finally enter the fabric of health care, funded as fully as surgical suites, pharmacies, and imaging centers. I predict that many would serve peanuts at check-in."