Peanuts May Benefit Vascular Health Study Shows

Vascular dysfunction plays a major role in the development of coronary artery disease. Normally some measures of vascular function are temporarily impaired after a high fat meal, until the fat is cleared form the blood. This study measured the response of the body to peanut consumption as a part of a high fat meal, and showed that including peanuts  improved the post-meal triglyceride response, and preserved a healthier functional response of the blood vessels.

This research evaluated vascular function after two sample high fat meals, one with and one without peanuts.  Fifteen study subjects who were overweight males were given either a peanut meal containing 3 oz. of ground peanuts as a shake, or a meal without peanuts. These meals were essentially equal other than the presence or absence of peanut.

A technique called  Flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) was measured to assess vascular function that occurs just after food ingestion. The results show that the high fat meal without peanut impaired vascular function, whereas the peanut containing meal did not show the same response. Also, the lipid profile, glucose and insulin were measured five times after the meals were ingested and relatively better readings were found with the peanut meals.

Researcher Xiaoran Liu, of  the Department of Nutritional Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University says, “Previous studies have shown that individuals who consume peanuts more than two times a week have a lower risk of coronary heart disease. This study indicates that the protective effect of peanut consumption could be due, in part, to its beneficial effect on artery health.”

This study does not address the question of what it is in peanuts that is responsible for the benefit seen. Logically some of the nutrients in peanuts such as essential oils, and minerals such as magnesium and other antioxidant substances, are leading suspects for contributing to the beneficial response to peanut ingestion.

The  Penn State researchers  hope to investigate the effects of peanut consumption on  risk factors such as including inflammatory markers for cardiovascular disease risk.

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