Peanut consumption and cardiovascular risk

We evaluated the effects of peanut consumption on lipid profiles, atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) and CHD risk in hypercholesterolaemic men.

Randomised crossover clinical trial.

Participants were randomly assigned to two groups. They were asked to consume peanut supplements (about 77 g) with their habitual diet for 4 weeks.

Fifty-four hypercholesterolaemic men with total cholesterol (TC) concentrations between 200 and 350 mg/dl.

Compared with the habitual diet, peanut supplementation of the habitual diet significantly reduced TC/HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) ratio (mean 1 (se 0.3) P = 0.001) and LDL cholesterol (LDL-C)/HDL-C ratio (mean 0.7 (se 0.2); P = 0.001). Peanut consumption increased HDL-C (mean 6.1 (se 1.5) mg/dl; P < 0.001) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) (mean 1.2 (se 0.6) U/mL P = 0.04). In addition, peanut consumption significantly reduced the AIP (mean 0.1 (se 0.03) P = 0.01) and CHD estimated risk over 10 years based on systolic and diastolic blood pressures (mean 1.4 % (se 0.5 %) P = 0.004 and mean 2.2 % (se 0.5 %) P < 0.001, respectively).

Short-term peanut consumption might improve lipid profiles, the AIP and CHD risk in free-living hypercholesterolaemic men.