Nut vendors around the world

Help yourself to some nuts this holiday season: Regular nut eaters were less likely to die of cancer or heart disease - in fact, were less likely to die of any cause - during a 30-year Harvard study.

Nuts have long been called heart-healthy, and the study is the largest ever done on whether eating them affects mortality.

Researchers tracked 119,000 men and women and found that those who ate nuts roughly every day were 20 percent less likely to die during the study period than those who never ate nuts. Eating nuts less often also appeared to lower the death risk, in direct proportion to consumption. (AP)