Pistachios Are Healthy for Blood Vessels and Heart

Pistachios can be an important component of a healthy diet. Scientists discovered that eating pistachios is linked with cholesterol level. This news was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Scientists say that pistachios are very salubrious in preventing heart and blood vessel disorders. They conducted extensive work to investigate the way the compounds contained in pistachios influence cholesterol level that decreases after a pistachio diet. The researchers studied volunteers who ate about 0.2 lb pistachios a day. Pistachios were added into different dishes, salads and appetizers. After 4 weeks of this diet doctors conducted a number of tests. The results showed that due to the pistachio diet blood vessels relaxed which diminished heart strain, while a high level of harmful cholesterol went down by 12 % without any pills.

If these changes are maintained for a long time they can be very favorable especially for those with heart diseases, scientists say. Clinicians believe that the positive effect is produced by a unique antioxidant complex contained in pistachios – particularly the combination of lutein, beta-carotene and gamma-tocopherol. All these powerful antioxidants are enhanced when interacting with one another.