HEALTH ISSUE: NUTS Can Reduce Blood Cholesterol

Going nuts in your diet can reduce blood cholesterol`


Washington: Going nuts in your diet can be good for your health, according to a new study, which shows that eating nuts helps to lower blood cholesterol levels. People who ate an average of 67 grams of nuts a day saw a 5.1% fall in total cholesterol concentration and a 7.4% drop in low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) - sometimes referred to as bad cholesterol -- concentration compared to no-nut eaters, the study published on Monday showed.

        People with high triglyceride levels who ate nuts saw a 10.2% fall in those blood lipid levels, said the study, which analyzed data from 25 trials conducted in 7 countries, involving 583 men and women aged 19-86 with high or normal cholesterol levels. All the trial data that were analyzed for the study compared nut eaters to a control group that did not eat nuts. None of the participants were taking medication to lower their blood lipids.
        Researchers led by Joan Sabate of Loma Linda University in California found in the study published Monday in the American Medical Association's Archives of Internal Medicine that the benefits to health were the same no matter what nut is eaten.
        A person's weight and baseline LDL cholesterol levels did, however, influence whatever benefits might be derived from eating nuts. The higher the starting LDL-C the greater the cholesterol-lowering effects of nuts, the study found. And the lower a patient's body mass index the greater the effects of nuts on lowering cholesterol levels, the study found.