Eating just 1.5 ounces (42.5 grams) of pecans every day may protect adults at risk for developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, according to a study published in the March 2018 issue of the journal Nutrients.
Pecans (Carya illinoinensis). Image credit: Tesa Robbins.
A team of researchers from Tufts University School of Medicine and the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University found that incorporating pecans (Carya illinoinensis) into a typical American diet significantly improved insulin sensitivity and had a significant effect on markers of cardiometabolic disease in otherwise healthy overweight and obese adults with excess belly fat.
While a growing body of evidence has linked tree nuts such as pecans to reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, this is the first study to look at the effects of pecan consumption on factors other than blood lipid levels and specifically those related to type 2 diabetes.
Obesity is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes, and both obesity and type 2 diabetes increase cardiovascular disease risk.
“Pecans are naturally high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, so replacing a portion of the saturated fat in the diet with these healthier fats can explain some of the cardio-protective effects we observed,” said study lead author Dr. Diane McKay, a researcher at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging.
“But pecans also contain a number of bioactive plant compounds as well as vitamins and essential minerals that all likely contributed to this benefit.”
“What’s really interesting is that just one small change — eating a handful of pecans daily — may have a large impact on the health of these at-risk adults.”
In this placebo-controlled crossover study of 26 men and women (average age 59 years), all meals were provided to carefully control their food intake.
For four weeks at a time, the participants ate either a control diet with no nuts or the same diet with pecans substituted for 15% of the total calories.
Both the control diet and the pecan-rich diet were low in fruits, vegetables and fiber.
Calorie levels, as well as protein, carbohydrate, and total fat, were kept the same.
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Diane L. McKay et al. 2018. A Pecan-Rich Diet Improves Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Overweight and Obese Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Nutrients 10 (3): 339; doi: 10.3390/nu10030339
