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Snacks make up 20% of our daily calorie count.<\/p>\nSnacks make up 20% of our daily calorie count.<\/p>\n
And unfortunately, most snacks are not healthy.<\/p>\n
Except for one common type of snack, tested in a new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition<\/em>.<\/p>\n It dropped people’s bad cholesterol by 9.5 mg\/dL (that\u2019s a lot).<\/p>\n You can find it in all supermarkets and everyone loves it.<\/p>\n First, scientists at Pennsylvania State University gathered 138 adults who were at higher risk for heart and metabolic diseases.<\/p>\n These participants were overweight or obese and had at least one risk factor for metabolic syndrome.<\/p>\n This is a cluster of conditions that increases the risk for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.<\/p>\n The participants were randomly assigned to either a pecan snack group or a usual diet group.<\/p>\n The pecan group was asked to eat 57 grams of unsalted, raw pecans daily, replacing their regular snack foods. The control group continued their usual diet.<\/p>\n The study lasted for 12 weeks, and during this period, various health measures were tracked, including cholesterol levels, blood pressure, blood vessel health (measured using flow-mediated dilation and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity), and diet quality (assessed using the Healthy Eating Index-2020).<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what they discovered:<\/p>\n •\tTheir “bad” LDL cholesterol decreased by 7.2 mg\/dL.<\/p>\n •\tThey enjoyed a 9.5 mg\/dL drop in non-HDL cholesterol.<\/p>\n •\tTheir triglycerides (another type of blood fat) fell by 16.4 mg\/dL.<\/p>\n •\tTheir overall diet quality score improved by 9.4 points on the Healthy Eating Index.<\/p>\n •\tThe pecan group consumed healthier fats and fiber than the regular diet group.<\/p>\n •\tPeople eating pecans reduced their carbohydrate intake by about 6% of total calories.\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n Interestingly, blood vessel function and blood pressure didn\u2019t change in either group.<\/p>\n These findings suggest that incorporating pecans into your daily routine is a simple and effective way to lower bad cholesterol and boost the healthiness of your diet \u2014 both of which are key factors in preventing cardiovascular disease.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not enough to clear all cholesterol plaque from your arteries.<\/p>\n\n