Nuts are considered as a source of rich nutrients and it has been found that consumption of nuts reduces the risk of heart diseases. Eating nuts shrinks cholesterol levels and improves the blood lipids profile.

Nuts contain unsaturated fat which helps to reduce the cholesterol levels. It also contains fiber, vegetable protein, phytoesterols and other antioxidants. Various investigations have been done while examining dietary intervention including nut consumption on blood lipid levels.

To reach the conclusion, researchers from California collected data on 583 men and women who had participated in 25 nut consumption trials conducted in seven different countries. When these trials were started on these people, these people had normal lipid profiles and were not taking any lipid-lowering medications.

It was established that eating about 2.3 ounces of nuts a day - a third of cupful reduces the cholesterol level by 5% and bad LDL cholesterol by 7.5 percent. This also improved the ratio between LDL and HDL cholesterol by 8.5% and result in the decrease of 10 percent in triglyceride levels among people with high levels of those blood fats.

Researchers found that almost all the thin persons and those with high LDL cholesterol and those consuming a fat rich diet are mostly benefited by eating nuts. All the nuts including walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pecans, hazelnuts, macadamias and pistachios have same benefits.

On the other hand researchers also discourage people from over consuming nuts because they are high calorie food and might lead to obesity, they suggest 3 ounce a day should be the limit for consuming nuts.