Lee Swanson Research Update

Study Demonstrates Heart Health Benefits of Pistachios

June 2010

A diet that includes pistachios could help improve heart health, according to a new study, which suggests that regular servings of the nuts reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Researchers found that a pistachio-enriched diet resulted in serum antioxidants and decreases in oxidized low-density lipoproteins (LDL), the so-called "bad" cholesterol, when compared to a diet without pistachios.

The study, conducted by researchers at Pennsylvania State University, is published in the Journal of Nutrition.

The study adds to a growing body of science supporting the health benefits, and the heart benefits in particular, of increased consumption of nuts, such as almonds, macadamia and walnuts.

However, pistachios have one of the highest antioxidant capacities of all nuts and contain more b-carotene, g-tocopherol and lutein—an antioxidant also found in dark green leafy vegetables.

The latest study was completed by 10 males and 18 females who were healthy and non-smoking, aged 35-61 and with moderately elevated LDL cholesterol.

Participants consumed a typical Western diet for two weeks as a baseline diet. They were then randomized to each of the three experimental diets for four weeks—a lower-fat control diet without pistachios, a diet with one serving of pistachios (32-63 g/d) and a diet with two servings of pistachios (63-126 g/d).

The results suggest that consumption of pistachios in the context of a heart-healthy diet confers cardioprotective benefits "beyond established lipid-lowering effects, including a decrease in oxidized LDL." This, the researchers believe, is the result of both a decrease in LDL cholesterol concentrations and an increase in serum antioxidants, such as lutein and g-tocopherol.

The authors concluded: "The consumption of the pistachio-enriched diets resulted in increases in serum antioxidants and decreases in oxidized LDL relative to the control diet.

"These data suggest that a heart-healthy diet rich in pistachios has a beneficial effect on serum antioxidants, as well as oxidized LDL. Beneficial effects on multiple CVD risk factors would be expected to reduce overall CVD risk beyond that achieved by decreases in LDL cholesterol alone through lowering cholesterol and the benefits of the antioxidants in the nuts."

Journal of Nutrition Published online ahead of print.

 

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