Macadamias in heart-healthy diet? Yes!

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., April 11 (UPI) -- Macadamia nuts, shown to reduce cholesterol, should be counted among tree nuts that are heart healthy, U.S. researchers suggest.

Dr. Amy E. Griel, a recent Pennsylvania State University Ph.D. and now at The Hershey Co. said the study found macadamia nuts reduced total cholesterol by 9.4 percent and low-density lipoprotein by 8.9 percent.

Griel and study co-author Penny Kris-Etherton of Pennsylvania State University looked at macadamia nuts because they are not included in the Food and Drug Administration's list of tree nuts with health claims, because the government's cut-off point is 4 grams of saturated fat per 50 grams of nuts and macadamia nuts have 6 grams of saturated fat per 50 grams.

The researchers used a controlled feeding study to compare a heart-healthy diet with 1.5 ounces -- a small handful -- of macadamia nuts to a standard American diet.

"We found that the reduction in low-density lipoprotein, the 'bad' cholesterol, we observed was greater than would be predicted by just the healthy fats in the nuts alone," Griel said in a statement. "This indicates that there is something else in the nuts that helps lower cholesterol."

The study is published in the Journal of Nutrition.