Nuts and seeds should feature in five-a-day guidelines, a report recommends.
Nuts and seeds need to be part of a person's five-a-day
Researchers argue that the nutritional benefits of nuts and seeds are comparable to those of fruit and vegetables and say that they are "overlooked" as a healthy food source due to a lack of promotion in public health campaigns.
Studies have often linked a daily handful of nuts and seeds to lowering the risk of heart disease and cancer.
Dr. Max Gowland, author of the report and founder of the Prime Fifty range of nutritional health supplements, states that Britain's health is in "dire need of improvement".
He said: "The scientific data regarding the nutritional profiles of nuts, seeds and dried fruits is highly compelling.
"It is entirely reasonable to assert that we should not only aim to increase our intake of nuts, seeds and dried fruits, but also explore ways to enhance the promotion of these products."