LONDON, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Eating a certain amount of nuts and peanuts every day can help lower premature mortality risk caused by many common diseases, according to a new study recently published Thursday in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

Researchers from Maastricht University in the Netherlands collected the dietary and lifestyle data of more than 120,000 Dutch men and women in 1986. These individuals were aged between 55 to 69 years old.

A decade later, when researchers looked at these people's mortality rate, they found that there was an average 23 percent lower risk of 10-year mortality across all diseases among those eating at least 10 grams of nuts or peanuts a day.

Significant decrease of risk can be seen in some diseases: 45 percent for neurodegenerative disease, 39 percent for respiratory disease, 30 percent for diabetes, according to the study.

But researchers said they would not count peanut butter as a healthy food, as it is high in salt and trans fats.