Objective To explore nut intake status and its association with overweight and obesity in school-aged children in China,and to provide evidence basis for developing healthy eating strategies. Methods Nineteen schools (included primary schools,middle schools and high schools) were cluster sampled from Beijing,Hunan and Ningxia urban and rural areas.A self-filled structured questionnaire was used to collect data on nut intake frequencies and portion.The children's data of height and weight were also collected.Body composition in a sub-sample of overweight and obese children (n=193) was measured with a Bio-impedance body composition analyzer (MC-980MA,TANITA,Made in Guangdong,China). Results A total of 4 164 children in grade 5^th to 12^th participated in the investigation (36.3% were overweight or obese).The average age of the participants were (13.2±2.4) years,average body mass index (BMI)(21.0±4.5) kg/m²,and the percent body fat% in overweight and obese children(35.2±7.8)%.About 29.7%,35.5%,11.0% and 23.7% of the children consumed nuts 0 hand/week,1~3 hands/week,4~6 hands/week and more than one hands/day(d) in the previous week of the data collection respectively and the prevalence of overweight and obesity among them was 39.3%,35.0%,36.3% and 35.0%,respectively.There were significant differences in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among 0 hand/week and other groups (P<0.05).The risk of becoming overweight and obesity was 0.75 times (OR=0.75;95%CI0.61~0.92)compared with those who didn't consume nuts after adjusted for region,gender,grade,parents'education level and family social economic status(SES). Conclusion Consumption of nuts is a potential protection factor for child obesity prevention.