| Eating almonds, walnuts, pecans, and other nuts lowers cholesterol levels |
| 12/05/2010 |
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Nut consumption improves blood lipid levels in a dose-related manner, particularly among subjects with higher LDL-C or with lower BMI.
Epidemiological studies and many dietary intervention trials investigated the effects of nut consumption on blood lipid levels.
Joan Sabaté and Keiji Oda, in the issue of Arch Intern Med. 2010;170(9):821-827, pooled individual primary data from 25 nut consumption trials conducted in 7 countries among 583 men and women with normolipidemia and hypercholesterolemia who were not taking lipid-lowering medications.
Overall, 25 studies of 583 men and women with normal lipid levels and blood pressure who were not taking lipid-lowering medications were included in the analysis. Daily nut consumption ranged from 23 g to 132 g (approximately 0.8 oz to 4.8 oz), and included various types of nuts, such as almonds, walnuts, pistachios, macadamias, almonds, and pecans.
Consuming 67 g of nuts per day, the mean daily consumption across the 25 studies, reduced total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels 10.9 mg/dL= 5.1% change, and 10.2mg/dL = 7.4% change , respectively. It also significantly improved the ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol, and the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol. There was no significant effect on HDL cholesterol levels, and no effect on triglycerides, although a reduction in triglyceride levels was observed among individuals with higher baseline levels.
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Source Information:
Nut Consumption and Blood Lipid Levels
A Pooled Analysis of 25 Intervention Trials
Joan Sabaté, MD, DrPH; Keiji Oda, MA, MPH; Emilio Ros, MD, PhD
Arch Intern Med. 2010;170(9):821-827
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