Pistachios, split open in their shells

Kobi Schutz · CC BY-SA 3.0

Pistachios

A handful of pistachios a day slightly lowers cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting blood glucose and systolic blood pressure; it does not cause weight gain, but it slowed down cyclists.

Benefits

• Slightly lowers cholesterol: −7.48 mg/dL of total cholesterol, −3.82 mg/dL of LDL and −11.19 mg/dL of triglycerides in a meta-analysis of 12 trials.
• The effect is dose-dependent: with two servings per day (20% of calories), −11.6% of LDL and −8% of total cholesterol in 4 weeks; a single serving lowers the ratios to HDL by only 1 to 3%.
• Lowers triglycerides during a diet: 88 mg/dL compared to 132 mg/dL after 12 weeks with 53 g of pistachios as a snack, instead of pretzels.
• Slightly lowers fasting blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin (−0.14 points) in a meta-analysis of 11 trials; in type 2 diabetics, 25 g twice a day for 12 weeks lowered fasting blood glucose by 16 mg/dL and glycated hemoglobin by 0.4 points.
• Blunts the blood sugar spike of a meal: with white bread, 56 g of pistachios bring the glycemic response down to 67.3% of that of bread alone, and 84 g down to 51.5%.
• Slightly lowers systolic blood pressure: −2.12 mmHg in a meta-analysis of 13 trials (563 participants), −3.10 mmHg in another; diastolic blood pressure does not budge.
• Does not cause weight gain: 42 or 70 g per day for 12 weeks changed neither weight nor waist circumference in 90 people with metabolic syndrome, nor did 44 g per day in 60 healthy women, who spontaneously ate less of other things.
• Slightly improves artery flexibility: pulse wave velocity reduced in 3 months with 40 g of shelled pistachios per day in 60 adults with slightly high cholesterol.