When it comes to inhibiting unwanted oxidation of blood lipids thus
helping reduce the risk of heart disease, it seems that all you have to do is
add a handful of pecans to your daily diet, a study has found.
The study was conducted by a team from Loma Linda University (LLU), who found
that the process may be in part due to the pecan's significant content of
vitamin E.
Lead author of the study Ella Haddad, DrPH, associate professor, department
of nutrition, School of Public Health said that the study had found that eating
pecans increases the levels of a form if vitamin E known as gama tocopherol that
help to reduce lipid oxidation.
"Plant foods, including pecans, are rich sources of phytochemicals that can
have a unique effect on the body. We found that eating pecans increased levels
of gamma tocopherol concentrations in the blood and subsequently reduced a
marker of lipid oxidation," said Dr. Haddad.
Oxidation of fats in the blood ¨C a process akin to rusting ¨C is detrimental
to health. When the "bad" cholesterol becomes oxidized, it is more likely to
build up and result in arteriosclerosis.
As a part of the research, the scientists analyzed blood samples from 23
study participants between the ages of 25 and 55 who ate two diets: one that
contained pecans and one that did not.
They found that the pecan-enriched diets significantly reduced lipid
oxidation by 7.4 percent, and that blood levels of tocopherols were higher after
participants were on the pecan diet.
The researchers concluded that these data provide some evidence for potential
protective effects of pecan consumption in healthy individuals.
The scientists also found that the various phytochemicals found in pecans
seem to be protective of the pecan's high levels of unsaturated fat.
All unsaturated fats in foods can be prone to oxidation themselves. However,
the researchers found that eating pecans did not lead to an increased risk of
oxidation as pecans, while high in unsaturated fat, are "self-protective" due to
their vitamin E content.
"We concluded that even though the pecan diet was high in unsaturated fats,
which one may think would increase blood oxidation, that did not happen. We
found the opposite result: the pecan diet showed reduced oxidation of blood
lipids," states Dr. Haddad.
The findings are published in the latest issue of Nutrition Research.
