The More Peanuts You Eat, The Better For Your Heart

They are usually regarded just like any other snacks around us, but studies have revealed that peanuts are super-power-houses, with potent natural chemicals that can suppress levels of harmful blood fat, which causes heart attacks and strokes.

Botanically called Arachis hypogaea, groundnut is locally knowns as Gyada in Hausa, the Igbos called it Ahuekere, while the Yorubas refer to it as Epa.

The researchers, who sampled a total of 15 overweight and obese men for the study, placed one group on a high fat meal alongside with three ounces of grounded unsalted peanuts and the others were given same meal with a placebo drink.

According to the study published in the Journal of Nutrition, findings showed a 32 per cent reduction in triglyceride blood levels (i.e the blood fat that brings about heart diseases) after consuming peanuts.

However, for the men that ate the meal without groundnuts, there was no reduction in their triglyceride blood levels, it rather tends to increase, said the researchers from the Pennsylvania State University.

Shedding more light on their discovery, the Lead Author of the team, Professor Penny Kris-Etherton explained how the human system work, ”typically, whenever we eat something, it causes the arteries to get a little bit stiffer during the post-meal period.

“But we have shown that if you eat peanuts with your meal, this can help prevent the stiffening response. After a meal, triglycerides increase and this typically decreases the dilation of the arteries, but the peanuts prevent that big increase in triglycerides after the meal.”

In case you are at sea with all the scientific terms, the bottom line of the whole story is that eating enough groundnuts, or mixing it with your meal reduces your risk of developing heart diseases- heart attack, heart failure, strokes, etc.

Hope the gift is clearer now?