New Research Confirms: Pecans Can Help Prevent CVD and T2DM

Medically reviewed by

Dr. Rosmy Barrios, MD

Dr. Rosmy Barrios, MD is an aesthetic medicine specialist whose work focuses on patients who are treated for obesity, metabolic syndrome, and other weight-related issues through nutritional analysis, keto diet programs, and supporting medications.

Updated May 13, 2018 by

Amber Bogdanowicz

Amber is a freelance writer and student based in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. She studies molecular biology at Bloomsburg University, writes for a number of companies about all sorts of cool things, and enjoys reading about new scientific developments. When she’s not in the lab culturing cells or writing, she’s normally enjoying her time with her dogs or hanging out with her family.

News, Science

Photo by Tom Sharrow/SoNourished.com

New evidence supports past evidence that a high intake of tree nuts may be able to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM). A new study by McKay et. al. focuses on pecans and finds interesting results.¹

Leading Cause of Death

Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death across the world. Other rising health concerns include diabetes, obesity, and hypertension. Multiple factors contribute to risk: the increase of reactive oxygen species, oxidative stress, and inflammation. Reactive oxygen species are part of oxidative stress which negatively influence the expression of your genetic information and are associated with cancer.²

Magical Nuts

Previous research indicates that by consuming large amounts of tree nuts, a person lowers their risk of developing CVD.³ What’s so special about nuts? They are low in saturated fats and cholesterol while high in poly- and monounsaturated fats.

Saturated vs Unsaturated Fats

Not all fats are good. Unsaturated fats are considered better for your health as saturated fat has been linked to coronary heart disease while unsaturated fat reverses it. Not to mention, consumption of unsaturated fats is linked to lower blood pressure while saturated fats are linked to higher blood pressure.

The Setup and Markers

The study by McKay et al consisted of 26 patients with either CVD or T2DM. Just four weeks after being on a pecan-rich diet, the patients experienced decreased markers of cardiometabolic risk such as glucose in the blood, insulin, total cholesterol, and blood pressure. In Type 2 diabetes, the disorder is characterized by an inability of the cells to take up glucose because they become resistant to little proteins called insulin. Insulin normally helps glucose get into cells.

More Benefits: Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant

Other benefits include anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties conveyed by the pecans. Pecans contain polyphenols which the researchers concluded has a part in reducing T2DM risk. It accomplishes this through blocking absorption of glucose in the intestines, protecting cells in your pancreas that make insulin and preventing the release of glucose from the liver and other tissues. Not to mention the pecans have tannins with the ability to rid the body of chronic metabolic disease by decreasing expression of genes that are responsible for chronic inflammation.⁴

Insulin and Glucose

That was a mouthful. The main problem in type 2 diabetes is that your cells want glucose but your body has trouble taking glucose up. Your cells aren't getting the glucose they need, so they send a signal to the liver to produce more. The problem isn't that there isn't enough glucose in your bloodstream, however; the problem is your cells can't access it. This cycle continues, which causes high levels of glucose in the blood, and this slowly degrades your tissues. Going back to the pecans, the researchers found that the polyphenols (chemicals inside the pecans) actually allow the body to stop responding like it's not getting enough sugar and allow insulin to be produced and act.

Lowering Inflammation

As for inflammation, the genes your cells express to produce molecules associated with inflammation can be essentially blocked by tannins from the pecans. You know when you get a cut and it burns and you feel awful? Well, you can thank inflammation for that. Disorders like CVD and T2DM are characterized by inflammation which pecans can lower, according to this study!

Antioxidant Power

Finally, a huge benefit of pecans that the study uncovered was the decrease of factors associated with oxidative stress but an increase in antioxidant activity. As I mentioned earlier, oxidative stress is really bad and can harm your cells. Antioxidants fight against that. Long story short, pecans increase the good players and decrease the bad players in the battle between antioxidants and oxidative stress!

If you have high blood pressure, are at risk of CVD, or have type 2 diabetes, it may be worth visiting your local supermarket and buying a bag of pecans! Let us know of your success!

NUTRITIONAL DISCLAIMER

The content on this website should not be taken as medical advice and you should ALWAYS consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. We provide nutritional data for our recipes as a courtesy to our readers. We use Total Keto Diet app software to calculate the nutrition and we remove fiber and sugar alcohols, like erythritol, from the total carbohydrate count to get to the net carb count, as they do not affect your blood glucose levels. You should independently calculate nutritional information on your own and not rely on our data. The website or content herein is not intended to cure, prevent, diagnose or treat any disease. This website shall not be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or recommendations on the Website or actions you take as a result. Any action you take is strictly at your own risk.

Dr. Rosmy Barrios, MD

This article has been medically reviewed by Dr. Rosmy Barrios, MD.