Millions of Americans who suffer from the intestinal disorder diverticulosis have been warned for decades to avoid eating popcorn, nuts, and corn on the cob, because those foods may compound the disorder. However, new study suggests that these foods may not increase diverticulosis risk, and that in fact people who eat significant quantities of nuts and popcorn have lower rates of the disease than others.

In a recent survey, as many of 47 percent of colorectal surgeons agreed that their patients should avoid nuts and popcorn, despite little evidence that this is an effective method. The notion that "abrasive foods" exacerbate diverticulosis is founded on a belief that nuts and seeds can lodge in the diverticula, the pouches or bulges that form in weak parts of the colon wall and give the disease its name.

A retrospective study of more than 47,000 men found that those with the highest intake of nuts had a 20 percent lower risk of diverticulosis than men with the lowest intake. At the same time, men in the highest intake group for popcorn were 28 percent less likely to develop the disease than men with the lowest intake.