TABLE 3.

Recommendations for future research in nuts and seeds and health outcomes

	Recommendations
Nut and seed types	Include: Nuts: Almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, peanuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, and walnuts Seeds: Chia seeds, flaxseeds, poppy seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds Exclude: Chestnuts, coconuts
Assessment methods	Methods that assessed habitual intake of nut and seeds preferred over single 24-h recalls/records Consider statistical methods that help estimate the usual intake of nuts and seeds
Nuts and/or seeds	Revisit the nut-disease relations with nuts alone, seeds alone, and combined nuts and seeds
Dietary sources of nuts and seeds	Consider if nuts and seeds were consumed alone or hidden in foods/meals If hidden in foods and meals, consider if nuts and seeds derived from major or discretionary food groups, which may have implications on the observed relations Country and culturally appropriate food and nutrient databases are needed to accurately quantify nuts and seeds as hidden ingredients, and nutrients contributed by these foods
Categorization of intake during analysis	Determine if categorization should be based on amount or frequency of consumption Select appropriate or meaningful cut-offs for frequency or amount of intake categorization to enable translation of findings into practice
Nuts and seeds in the context of whole diets	Relations between nuts and seeds should be examined in the context of the whole diet Adjusting for overall diet quality is recommended to ensure the robustness of the relation between nuts/seeds (single food group) and health
Clinical trials	Where possible, clinical studies are needed to confirm findings from observational studies, and to discern underlying mechanisms and optimal dose that explain the observed relations between nuts/seeds and health