AT LAST COUNT, almonds and walnuts were running neck-and-neck for the title of most nutritious and healthful nut on the planet. But last week, pistachios entered the race with some pretty good stats. Thanks to funding by the Western Pistachio Association, researchers at Penn State have discovered that, like almonds and walnuts and filberts, pistachios contain antioxidants that help reduce the risk of heart disease. While other nuts have various other heart-healthy components, in the case of pistachios, the substances responsible for the good are lutein, zeazanthin and gamma tocopherol -- all of which are known to help reduce LDL cholesterol.
Personally, I’ll never remember the names of the compounds, but I will likely grab pistachios more often, and use this great news as an excuse for eating them. If you need ideas on how to work more pistachios into your diet, check out my cookbook page for details about a new book all about nuts. For more information about the study, go to http://live.psu.edu/story/34873
