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FRIDAY, April 6, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Eating pecans every day for four weeks improves certain markers of cardiometabolic disease risk, according to a study published online March 11 in Nutrients<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Diane L. McKay, Ph.D., from Tufts University in Boston, and colleagues compared the effects of a pecan-rich diet with an isocaloric control diet similar in total fat and fiber content, but absent nuts, on biomarkers related to cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes risk. Study participants were healthy middle-aged and older adults who were overweight or obese with central adiposity.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that after four weeks on a pecan-rich diet, changes in serum insulin and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance and beta cell function were significantly greater compared to the control diet (P < 0.05). Based on a composite score reflecting changes in clinically relevant markers, pecan consumption also lowered the risk of cardiometabolic disease.<\/p>\n
“Compared to the control diet, the pecan intervention had a concurrent and clinically significant effect on several relevant markers of cardiometabolic risk,” the authors write.<\/p>\n
The study was supported in part by the National Pecan Shellers Association, which provided the pecans for the intervention.<\/p>\n