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2008 Publications

Finding new recipes for heart health.

A 2008 study by scientists at OMRF and Penn State University found that eating modest amounts of pistachios helped decrease cellular inflammation, cholesterol levels and risk of heart disease. The findings appeared in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

With OMRF’s Dr. Petar Alaupovic performing lipid measurements for the study, the researchers found that daily intake—one to two handfuls—of pistachios reduced risk for cardiovascular disease by significantly reducing levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL or “bad”) cholesterol.

The researchers studied 28 men and women whose average bad cholesterol level was “borderline high.” They ate a diet rich in cheese, oil and butter before they switched to low-fat diets. After the switch, they incorporated pistachios into their meals and found that bad cholesterol levels dropped by 12 percent when two daily servings of pistachios were eaten. Good cholesterol levels did not change.

“It appears from this study that nuts in general, and pistachios in this case, help bad cholesterol,” Alaupovic says. “So they’re not just pleasant to eat, but they’re also beneficial for your health.”