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This article is from the WebMD News Archive
Gobbling Up Pecans Helps Fight High Cholesterol
March 20, 2000 (Atlanta) -- People concerned about their cholesterol levels no longer have to pass on pecans. Researchers at New Mexico State University have discovered that gobbling down as much as two fistfuls per day of the smooth, oblong nut can lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) -- the 'bad' cholesterol linked to heart disease.
"We discovered that pecans can have a place in a healthy diet," lead researcher Wanda A. Morgan, PhD, RD, tells WebMD. "Pecans, in balance and moderation with other foods, can help protect us against heart disease." The study appears in the March 2000 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. The Western Pecan Growers Association funded the study.
According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), a high level of LDL-cholesterol in the blood increases the risk of fatty deposits forming in the arteries, which in turn increases the risk of a heart attack. Thus, LDL-cholesterol has been dubbed 'bad' cholesterol. At the same time, an elevated level of high-density lipoprotein -- HDL or 'good' cholesterol -- seems to have a protective effect against heart disease.
In the pecan study, 19 participants -- roughly three quarters female -- with normal cholesterol levels were divided into a pecan eating group and a control group. The nut eaters ate 88 grams of shelled pecan halves per day for eight weeks. They could choose whether to eat their daily pecan rations as snacks or as part of their regular meals. The pecan eaters were prohibited from eating other nuts, and people in the control group were not allowed to eat any nuts at all. Blood samples to check cholesterol levels were taken at the beginning of the study and at four- and eight-week intervals.
After the first four weeks of the study researchers found the pecan eaters' LDL cholesterol lowered by 10%, although after eight weeks, it was only down 6% from its original level. Morgan says unlike other studies on nuts, participants were allowed to choose what they ate, instead of following a restricted diet. "We wanted to mimic as much as we could what people really did with their daily meals to see if we could still get some of the benefits that were showing up with the other studies," says Morgan, who is an associate professor in the department of family and consumer sciences at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces.
The pecan research is the latest positive study on the benefits of the much-maligned family of tree nuts. In 1999, French researchers reported that people in the Dauphine region of France who frequently consumed walnuts or walnut oil -- typically used in salad dressings -- had higher levels of HDL-cholesterol and another helpful factor associated with cholesterol -- than did people who never ate walnuts.
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