Eat Pistachios for Heart Health
This new study included forty-two people with mildly unhealthy levels of cholesterol. For three months, half of the people made changes to their diet and exercise and half did the same but also ate 80g a day of roasted, salted pistachios.
At the end of the study, the people in the pistachio group had significant increases in the heart healthy HDL cholesterol and significant decreases in the unhealthy LDL cholesterol.
The pistachio group had improved arterial stiffness compared to the control group. Arterial stiffness in the pistachio group improved significantly in the pistachio group but not in the control group.
The pistachio group also had significantl decreases in fasting blood sugar.
This study adds to the evidence that eating nuts is healthy: it shows that eating pistachios improves cholesterol and vascular function in people with mild cholesterol problems. It would be interesting to see if the results would be even better if the nuts had not been roasted and salted.
Nutrition 2015;31:678-85
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