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• Posted May 6, 2025

Nuts, Seeds OK For People With Diverticulitis, Study Says

TUESDAY, May 6, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Patients with diverticulitis often try to control the digestive condition by cutting nuts, seeds and popcorn out of their daily diet.

But that’s not necessary, a new study has found.

Nuts and seeds do not increase the risk of diverticulitis, according to findings published May 5 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

“Our findings refute the widely held belief that dietary intake of particulate matter [like nuts or seeds] should be avoided to prevent diverticulitis,” wrote the team led by senior researcher Dr. Anne Peery, a gastroenterologist with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

However, people can lower their risk of diverticulitis by adopting one of four common health-focused diets, researchers found.

“We assessed diet quality and found that multiple healthy diet patterns were associated with a reduced risk for incident diverticulitis in women,” researchers wrote.

As people age, they develop small pouches that bulge outward in weak spots along the walls of the colon. These pouches are called diverticula.

Diverticulitis occurs when one of these pouches becomes infected or inflamed. Symptoms can include abdominal pain, fever, nausea, vomiting, cramping, constipation or diarrhea. 

“Patients with diverticulitis often attempt to control their diet with a particular focus on avoiding nuts and seeds,” assuming that the grainy particles could lodge in a pocket and cause inflammation, the research team wrote.

To test this tactic, researchers analyzed government survey data from nearly 30,000 U.S. women ages 35 to 74 who filled out diet and health questionnaires every two to three years from 2003 to 2022.

The data found no link between the women’s intake of seeds, nuts or popcorn and their risk for diverticulitis, researchers reported. This included fresh fruit containing seeds.

Researchers also used the women’s nutrition data to see how closely they aligned with one of four common healthy diets, and whether the diets reduced risk of diverticulitis.

They found that women had a:

• A 23% decreased risk of diverticulitis if their eating pattern resembled the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet.

• A 22% lower risk with the Healthy Eating Index.

• A 19% reduced risk with the Alternative Healthy Eating Index.

• A 9% decreased risk with the Alternative Mediterranean Diet.

Diet quality might influence diverticulitis risk by helping control inflammation in the body, or by reducing the risk of other chronic conditions linked to diverticulitis, such as type 2 diabetes, researchers said.

“Recent evidence has suggested that gut microbiome composition and corresponding metabolic profile are altered in diverticulitis, adding another potential mediator to the relationship between diet and diverticulitis,” they added.

Women who developed diverticulitis tended to be older, current or former smokers, heavy alcohol users and overweight, researchers noted.

More information

The Cleveland Clinic has more on diverticulitis myths and facts.

SOURCES: Annals of Internal Medicine, May 5, 2025; American College of Physicians, news release, May 5, 2025