Pecans are edible and very delicious nuts that have rich, buttery flavor. They are delectable whether eaten raw or cooked. Pecans can also be used as additional flavoring for a lot of recipes. They are commonly used as the ingredient for common desserts like pies, cakes, breads, and many more. In Southern America, pecans are the main ingredients for their traditional pecan pie. Eating a handful of pecans everyday can guard you from heart disease. A lot of medical and clinical studies looking at pecans have shown that these nuts have the ability to lower cholesterol levels and LDL (“bad” cholesterol) by up to 10 percent, similar to other types of nuts such as pistachios and walnuts. These studies were made on individuals with normal or high cholesterol levels subsequent to either a controlled diet or no diet at all.

Pecan's Lipid-lowering Effect

Pecans have lipid-lowering effect that can be credited to the high quantity of unsaturated fats contained in pecans. Unsaturated fats can be found in many nuts and they are considered heart-healthy, for they can help reduce the cholesterol level of one's body. Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified that some nuts, including pecans, may have the capacity to reduce or diminish the risk of heart disease. For this reason, the FDA has given its approval for pecans to be labeled or categorized as a heart-healthy food.

Pecans Can Help Decrease LDL Level

Adding pecans to a low-fat diet can greatly improve the cholesterol-lowering properties of one's heart-healthy diet. Based on two new studies (Loma Linda University and Texas A&M University), pecans, when added to a heart-healthy diet, are more efficient in lowering cholesterol even if the pecans add additional total fat to the diet. In the said study, it showed that the study participants who had pecan diet never gained weight. This confirms that it is the type of fat in the diet - like the monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat in pecans - that is more important to make the heart healthy. These studies showed also that adding pecans to a heart healthy diet can decrease the levels of LDL or “bad” cholesterol and can help maintain a desirable level of HDL or “good” cholesterol.

Delicious and Nutritious Pecans

While pecans are delicious to eat, they are also nutritious to eat. Consuming 1.5 ounces of pecans each day, that is roughly a handful, can significantly help lower one's artery-clogging cholesterol. Pecans are good substitute for other snacks foods such as cake, cookies, crackers, or chips, which are relatively high in cholesterol, fats, and carbohydrates.

Most snack food have lesser in food nutrient content. Remember that adding ten large pecans to one's toppings, salads, vegetables, meat dishes, and desserts will likewise add 65 nutritious calories to his diet and a diet rich in nuts may reduce the levels of cholesterol in one's body much better than spending on medications to reduce cholesterol levels. Isn't it good to eat delicious pecans and get more nutrition? You can log on to Tanner's Pecan and Candies for more information.