| Emerging research from epidemiologic studies and clinical trials is demonstrating that tree nuts promote satiety and weight maintenance. Moreover, tree nuts contain a plethora of nutrients, natural phenolic antioxidants, and other bioactive compounds (e.g., phytosterols), which are now being recognized for bestowing health benefits. As will be discussed in this review, tree nuts have been linked to improving heart health, lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, and reducing inflammation. The strongest evidence that tree nuts are cardio-protective foodstuffs comes from epidemiological observations indicating a consistent and well-defined inverse association between the frequency of nut consumption and development of coronary heart disease, and several short-term clinical trials demonstrating the beneficial effects of nut intake on lipid profiles as well as other intermediate markers of heart disease. In this review research findings from the existing literature published within the last 15 years have been compiled and summarised. Three bases: SCOPUS, Web Science, and PubMed were used for search. |
