If you like snacking on nuts, a team of Harvard researchers has some very good news: That might just make you less likely to die. Well, OK, so technically everyone is 100% likely to die, but in a study of 118,000 people, those who ate a serving of nuts each day were 20% less likely to die of any cause during the 30-year study period than those who didn't, the Boston Globe reports. Even overweight nut eaters who didn't exercise or eat their veggies enjoyed longer lifespans.
But the results come with an asterisk: The study was funded in part by a foundation representing tree nut suppliers. "These are excellent investigators, but the funding source casts doubt on the credibility of the science," one independent nutritionist says. The study was published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, and the Journal's editor-in-chief stands by it—with one caveat. Try as they might, researchers couldn't rule out the possibility that nut eaters just tend to live healthier lifestyles generally, he warns. "If you think adding almonds or walnuts to a lifestyle of sloth and gluttony will help you live longer, you’re probably nuts."