A research led by Wendy Hall from Kings College London in the UK has found that replacing popular snacks such as biscuits and crisps with almonds may improve endothelial function, a key indicator of cardiovascular health, and lower ‘bad’ cholesterol.
The study participants from the UK, who had above average cardiovascular disease risk, consumed almonds or a calorie-matched control snack in the six-week trial.
The study has been published in the European Journal of Nutrition.
Researchers compared cardiometabolic health markers between the two groups. The improvement in endothelial function and LDL-cholesterol levels suggests that replacing typical snacks with almonds, as 20 per cent of total calorie intake, has the potential to reduce adjusted relative cardiovascular disease risk by 32 per cent.
The study has also found that people who eat almonds have a lower waist circumference and lower body mass index (BMI) than those who do not.
“This study shows that eating almonds in place of the typical snacks that many of us consume is beneficial for our heart health by reducing levels of bad LDL-cholesterol and improving the health of our arteries,” Hall said.
“Based on existing data on risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), we predict that replacing typical snacks with almonds in the long term would result in a 30 per cent reduction in the adjusted relative risk of a cardiovascular event,” she said.
The researchers examined a four-day food diary from 6,802 adults and found that adults who eat almonds have a healthier diets, as they have higher reported intakes of protein, total fat, vitamin C, fibre, potassium and other healthy supplements.
They also had lower intakes of trans-fatty acids, total carbohydrate, sugar and sodium. Almond eaters also had a lower waist circumference by 2.1 cm and a lower BMI by 8 kilogramme per square metre.
