Peanut consumption and cardiovascular risk.

OBJECTIVE We evaluated the effects of peanut consumption on lipid profiles, atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) and CHD risk in hypercholesterolaemic men. DESIGN Randomised crossover clinical trial. SETTING Participants were randomly assigned to two groups. They were asked to consume peanut supplements (about 77 g) with their habitual diet for 4 weeks. SUBJECTS Fifty-four hypercholesterolaemic men with total cholesterol (TC) concentrations between 200 and 350 mg/dl. RESULTS 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). CONCLUSIONS Short-term peanut consumption might improve lipid profiles, the AIP and CHD risk in free-living hypercholesterolaemic men.