Can I eat pine nuts if I have high cholesterol?

High cholesterol is a problem that many people have encountered, which has a lot to do with people’s diet. Pine nuts belong to the category of nuts, so many people are concerned about whether people with high cholesterol can eat pine nuts. In fact, if you have high cholesterol, you can eat pine nuts appropriately, which can actually lower your cholesterol.

1. Eating nuts regularly can effectively lower cholesterol levels.

The latest research finds that eating nuts every day can effectively improve cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. Loma Linda University in California conducted a study on nearly 600 male and female patients with different cholesterol levels. None of the respondents took cholesterol-lowering medications. The nuts consumed include almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, walnuts, peanuts, etc. The respondents ate an average of 67 grams of nuts per day. As a result, their overall cholesterol levels dropped by an average of 5.1%, low-density lipoprotein (commonly known as "bad cholesterol") dropped by 7.4%, and the ratio of low-density lipoprotein to high-density lipoprotein (commonly known as "good cholesterol") dropped by 8.3%. In addition, the triglyceride index decreased by 10.2%. This suggests that nut consumption has the same effect on improving cholesterol levels in both male and female patients.

2. Benefits of eating nuts

Nuts, also known as shell fruits, are mostly cotyledons or endosperm of plant seeds and have high nutritional value. Nuts are generally divided into two categories: one is tree nuts, including almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts, pine nuts, chestnuts, ginkgo nuts, pistachios, macadamia nuts, etc.; the other is seeds, including peanuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, watermelon seeds, etc.

3. Pine Nuts

Pine nuts contain unsaturated fatty acids such as linoleic acid, which can esterify cholesterol, reduce the adverse effects of cholesterol and triglycerides, and relieve hyperlipidemia.