Will Eating Nuts Make Me Gain Weight?

Nuts are a nutritious component of a healthy diet, and they've also been shown to contribute to greater longevity.   But because they contain a relatively high amount of fat, many people worry that they'll gain weight if they eat nuts.  Is this true?

Answer:  As long as you confine your nut consumption to an ounce (28g) or so each day, you are unlikely to gain weight from the nuts alone, according to a 2008 article published in the Journal of Nutrition.  The researchers - from the US Department of Agriculture's Nutrition Center on Aging and the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer - write that regular nut eaters have not been found to weigh more than people who rarely or never eat nuts.  This, despite research that regular consumption of nuts increases calorie intake by an average of 250 extra calories per day, according to the authors.

About a third of Americans report eating nuts on any given day; Europeans consume about 50% more nuts than Americans do.
An ounce of almonds contains about 160 calories, an ounce of walnuts, about 200 calories.  Depending on the nut, one ounce usually makes up just less than a quarter cup (60ml).
Contributing to this data are the findings of a 2013 review of the dietary habits of almost 119,000 men and women in the US, compiled over three decades.  Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, it found that adults who ate nuts (either peanuts or tree nuts) daily had less weight gain compared with those who never ate nuts.  The study also cited past research showing that regular nut consumption is linked with a smaller waist circumference, less dangerous belly fat, and a lower risk of obesity.
While nuts may be a nutritious snack, eating any food between meals can contribute to weight gain.  This is true even if you're making healthy choices, according to nutrition researcher Barbara Rolls.  She warns that if the amount of food you're consuming is too small, it may not register with your body's appetite sensors and will then do little to keep you from overeating later in the day.
http://longevity.about.com/od/Obesity-longevity/fl/Will-Eating-Nuts-Make-Me-Gain-Weight.htm