More pistachio nuts for improving the blood lipid profile. Systematic review of epidemiological evidence.

Lippi G, Cervellin G, Mattiuzzi C.

Acta Biomed. 2016;87(1):5-12.

Researchers searched Medline and ISI Web of Science to identify interventional studies which evaluated changes of conventional blood lipids after replacing part of normal caloric intake with pistachio nuts in humans. Overall, 9 studies were finally included in the systematical literature review (4 randomized crossover, 3 randomized controlled and 3 prospective).

The results of the literature search provide solid evidence that intake of pistachio nuts may exert favorable effects on the traditional blood profile, provided that their consumption does not increase the habitual or recommended daily caloric intake. It seems also reasonable to suggest that further studies aimed to investigate the favorable effects of nuts on human diseases should distinguish between one type and the others, since the different nuts exhibit unique dietary composition and may hence produce distinctive biological effects in humans.