Eating Pistachio Nuts Can Lower Risks of Heart Disease

A new study that just came out says eating pistachios can lower "bad" cholesterol levels thus reducing risks of heart disease.

This study recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed that bad cholesterol dropped 12% when the participants in the study were given two servings of pistachios per day.

28 adults with "borderline high" cholesterol levels participated in the study run by scientists at Pennsylvania State University and Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation

The researchers first gave the participants a diet rich in cheese, oil and butter. Then they switched to low-fat diets before incorporating pistachios.

Bad cholesterol levels dropped by 12 per cent when two daily servings of pistachios were eaten. Good cholesterol levels did not change.

According to the researchers, it is the antixodant lutein, which is present in pistachio nuts that gives pistachios their power to slash the growth of bad cholesterol in the arteries.

The article reporting the study quotes nutritionist Angela Dowden (not related to the study) as saying “Pistachios are very healthy in moderation. A handful a day is very easily incorporated into the diet and they are less calorific than peanuts as you have to take the shell off."

Sorry Angela, I'm not sure I follow you. You mean peanuts and pistachios have the same amount of calories, but the herculean amount of energy expended on taking the shell off a pistachio nut means we are consuming less calories if we pick a pistachio nut??

Thanks Angela! I'm going to skip my 1 hour work out at the gym today and instead will take shells off of hundreds of pistachio nuts to lose a couple of lbs.

Angela is correct. However, probably not for the reason she states. I checked the calorie king website and compared pistachios and peanuts. As you can see, there are approximately 4 calories per each pistachio nut you consume vs. 6 calories per peanut.

But back to the topic at hand. It looks like we have another weapon in our arsenal to fight coronary artery disease. I know I'm stopping off at the supermarket here after work to get me some pistachios!