Health Benefits of Eating Cashews in Moderation
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Effects of Eating Cashews

Effects of Eating Cashews
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Jody Braverman, CPT, FNS, RYT
Updated on July 31, 2025
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Creamy and mild, cashews are easy to love and hard to stop eating. While the list of cashew nuts’ health benefits is long, they have one main disadvantage: They’re high in calories, and eating too many can lead to weight gain.

Cashews Compared to Other Nuts

So, how do cashews stack up to other nuts? They are all fairly equal, although they have some notable differences. Cashews have slightly less protein than almonds and walnuts, and slightly more carbohydrates in the form of natural sugars, according to data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Almonds have a few more calories, with 162 per ounce (oz), but they also have more fiber — 3.5 grams (g) per oz compared with less than 1 g per oz of cashews. Dietary fiber offers many health benefits, from helping control appetite to lowering cholesterol. Increasing your fiber intake may help reduce your risk of heart disease, diabetes, constipation, and colon cancer, according to UCSF Health.

The balance of fats is also different. Cashews have more saturated fat than almonds and walnuts, which are both higher in unsaturated fats. But this doesn’t likely affect the health benefits, as the saturated fat content of a serving of cashews is still well below the recommended daily amount.

Disadvantages of Cashew Nuts

When eaten in moderation, cashew nuts are a nutritious addition to your diet. Like all nuts, they are good sources of healthy fats, fiber, and minerals, according to Cleveland Clinic. Cashews contain nutrients that boost heart health, promote healthy blood sugar levels, and protect your joints.

But as with all nuts, cashews are high in calories. So, keep in mind that one serving of nuts is 1 oz.

One oz of cashews — about 18 medium nuts, according to Cleveland Clinic — has 157 calories. That’s not a huge amount — it’s about 8 percent of the total daily calories for a typical 2,000-calorie diet. But it’s very easy to eat more than 18 cashews in one sitting without realizing it. This can quickly increase the calories in your snack and make up an even greater portion of your daily calories.

Eating all those cashews means you’re likely going to exceed your calorie needs for the day, unless you carefully watch your intake of other foods. Taking in too many calories leads to weight gain. The more calories you eat in excess of your body's daily needs, the more weight you put on.

The bottom line? Cashews are very healthy for you as long as you eat them in moderation. As with all foods, though, variety is the key to getting a broad spectrum of nutrients. So, mix it up with almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, and Brazil nuts every once in a while.

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Jennifer Frediani

Jennifer Frediani, PhD, RD

Medical Reviewer

Jennifer K. Frediani, PhD, RD, ACSM-CES, is a nutrition scientist, exercise physiologist, and registered dietitian with over two decades of experience in clinical research, education, and lifestyle intervention. She's an assistant professor, research track, at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University, adjunct faculty in the nutrition and health sciences program at the Rollins School of Public Health, and a member of the Winship Cancer Institute.

Dr. Frediani earned her PhD in nutrition science from Emory University, and a master’s in exercise science and a bachelor’s in nutrition and dietetics from Georgia State University. Her doctoral research focused on body composition and dietary assessment among tuberculosis patients in the Republic of Georgia, and her postdoctoral work explored nutritional influences on pediatric liver disease.

She has published widely in journals such as Nature Scientific Reports, The New England Journal of Medicine, Clinical Nutrition, and Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases.

At Emory, she directs adult clinical studies for the NIH RADx initiative, overseeing trials on novel diagnostics for infectious diseases. She also leads the development of Emory’s fully online master of science in clinical nutrition program, designed to prepare future registered dietitian nutritionists through integrated coursework and supervised experiential learning.

Her research focuses on weight-neutral lifestyle interventions to improve cardiometabolic outcomes, with a special emphasis on dietary assessment, physical activity, and metabolomics.

Frediani’s teaching philosophy centers on creating inclusive, student-driven learning environments that foster critical thinking and professional growth. She is passionate about reducing weight stigma in clinical care and promoting sustainable, individualized approaches to food and movement.

Outside of work, Frediani is an avid runner and food enthusiast who travels the world to explore culinary traditions and cultural foodways. She believes that everyone deserves to enjoy food that nourishes both body and soul — without shame or restriction.

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Jody Braverman, CPT, FNS, RYT

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