Scientists from the University of Catania found Brazil nuts may help prevent metabolic diseases by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation.
The tree nut family includes almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, walnuts, and others.
Research has shown found that regularly eating a healthy diet that includes nuts may improve heart health through the change of oxidative stress and inflammation.
Oxidative stress and free radicals are generally known to be detrimental to human health. It can damage cells, proteins, and DNA, which can contribute to aging.
Oxidative stress may play a role in the development of a range of health problems, including diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia.
Inflammation in the heart can lead to serious health problems, including an irregular heartbeat (also called arrhythmia), heart failure, and coronary heart disease.
Many things cause heart inflammation. Common causes include viral or bacterial infections and medical conditions such as autoimmune diseases.
In the current study, researchers aimed to review the effect of Brazil nut intake on oxidative stress and inflammation.
Brazil nuts have several antioxidants, including vitamin E and phenols. Antioxidants can help to fight free radicals, reducing oxidative stress and inflammation in the body.
They included 8 studies in their analysis. They found a strong positive effect of Brazil nuts on selenium levels in the body.
Additionally, a positive effect of Brazil nut intake on glutathione peroxidase activity was found.
Glutathione peroxidase is the general name of an enzyme family with peroxidase activity whose main biological role is to protect the organism from oxidative damage.
However, no strong results were found when considering blood cholesterol levels, including results for total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol.
The researchers conclude that Brazil nut intake could improve selenium status and exert antioxidant effects.
This could be a method for the prevention of metabolic disorders. But further studies are needed to clarify the effect of Brazil nuts on blood cholesterol levels.
The research was published in Antioxidants (Basel) and conducted by Justyna Godos et al.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies that eating more eggs is linked to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, and people with a high intake of linoleic acid have a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.
For more information about nutrition, please see recent studies about unhealthy plant-based diets linked to metabolic syndrome, and results showing Mediterranean diet could help reduce the diabetes risk by 30%.
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