May lower cholesterol and blood pressure

Pistachios may lower your risk of heart disease in a variety of ways. Pistachios are abundant in antioxidants and may lower blood cholesterol and blood pressure, lessening your risk of heart disease. Indeed, multiple studies have shown that pistachios can help decrease cholesterol. Many research on pistachios and blood lipids use pistachios to replace a portion of the calories in a diet. Up to 67% of these trials found lower total and LDL (bad) cholesterol and higher HDL (good) cholesterol.

Meanwhile, none of these researchers found that eating pistachios negatively affected the blood lipid profile. Pistachios were consumed as 10% of daily calories in one 4-week study of persons with elevated LDL cholesterol. The diet reduced LDL cholesterol by 9%, according to the study. Furthermore, consuming 20% of one's calories from pistachios reduced LDL cholesterol by 12%. Another study involved 32 young males who followed a Mediterranean diet for four weeks. Then, in place of the monounsaturated fat content, pistachios were added to that diet, accounting for around 20% of their daily calorie consumption.