Pecan Nuts: the health benefits significantly outweigh the cost

When adults consumed a pecan-rich diet for four weeks, they experienced decreases in their LDL cholesterol and triglycerides while beneficial HDL readings increased.

Pecan nuts – one of my favourite nuts, but sadly, so expensive. Having dug into some more research on the amazing benefits of Pecan nuts, I quickly concluded that these beautiful nuts are worth every cent. Pecans can grow in New Zealand, but good research into which type for your area and climatic conditions will need to be done before you invest in a tree. Pecans are the only tree nut native to North America and are also No. 1 in antioxidant concentration. When you're on the lookout for a healthy snack, pecans check every box

Pecans have a rich history. Wild pecans were an important part of Native American diets in the U.S. and Mexico, and the word pecan comes from the Algonquin Native American word "pacane," which means "a nut requiring a stone to crack."

In the wild, pecan trees live to be 1,000 years old, reaching more than 100 feet tall. The first cultivated pecan trees were planted by Native Americans, who also created a fermented beverage called powcohicora, made by fermenting pecan powder.

Today, more than 80% of the global pecan supply still comes from the U.S. It takes close to 10 years before pecan trees are able to produce a full harvest, but once they reach maturity, they can produce this nutritious food for a century or more.

Health Benefits of Pecans

Pecans have a buttery, mildly sweet flavour perfect for snacking, baking and adding crunch to salads and vegetable dishes. They also offer an impressive nutritional profile, providing protein, fibre, healthy fats and more than 19 vitamins and minerals, including vitamins A and E, B vitamins, folate, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and zinc.

There are many reasons to add them to your diet.

1. Improved cardiometabolic risk factors

Cardiometabolic risk factors such as high blood pressure, elevated fasting blood sugar, dyslipidaemia, abdominal obesity and elevated triglycerides signify an increased risk of cardiometabolic disease. This refers to a group of conditions that often begin with insulin resistance and, without healthy lifestyle changes, progress to metabolic syndrome, prediabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and Type 2 diabetes (T2DM).

Only 6.8% of U.S. adults have optimal cardiometabolic health, which means the remaining 93.2% do not, instead belonging to the majority whose cardiometabolic health has been "poor and worsening" since 2000.

Simply eating pecans is one way to improve your cardiometabolic health, even if you're overweight or obese. In a study of middleaged and older adults who were overweight or obese, eating a pecan-rich diet for four weeks led to improvements in insulin, insulin resistance and beta cell function. The study found that eating pecans also lowered participants' risk of cardiometabolic disease compared to the control diet.

2. Reduce Oxidation of LDL Cholesterol

Pecans contain compounds such as asγ-tocopherol and flavan3-ol monomers, which have antioxidant properties. Consuming pecans in whole or blended form led to significant increases in antioxidant defences, suggesting "bioactive constituent of pecans are absorbable."

Further, after consuming whole pecans, oxidised LDL decreased. Oxidised LDL is a marker of lipoprotein-associated oxidative stress and is considered to be a risk factor for heart disease. The U.S. Department of Agriculture study revealed that pecans rank No. 1 in antioxidants compared to eight other common tree nuts. Pecans also ranked in the top 20 in antioxidant capacity out of 277 foods analysed for the study.

3. Improve Heart Health

With a rich content of antioxidants and monounsaturated fats, pecans are a heart-healthy food. When adults consumed a pecanrich diet for four weeks, they experienced decreases in their LDL cholesterol and triglycerides while beneficial HDL readings increased. Further, improvements to lipid profile were achieved without any weight gain.

"Nuts such as pecans that are rich in monounsaturated fat may therefore be recommended as part of prescribed cholesterollowering diet of patients or habitual diet of healthy individuals," researchers wrote in The Journal of Nutrition.

4. Protect Your Brain

In an animal study of mice with a condition similar to

Nut consumption, in general, is inversely associated with cognitive decline.

Davis