Review · Nutrients · 2022Conflicts declared

Pistachio nuts and health: what the research shows

Mateos R, Salvador MD, Fregapane G, Goya L · Free full text

Pistachio nuts may help blood fats, blood sugar, blood pressure and gut bacteria, and studies in people found no weight gain.

Many of the findings come from small or short studies, and some come from animals or cells.

What they found

Studies in people

Blood fats

In people, pistachio-supplemented diets lowered total cholesterol and cholesterol ratios in healthy people and in people with moderately high cholesterol. Some trials also found lower LDL cholesterol, and one found higher HDL cholesterol.

Blood sugar

In people, pistachios eaten with a carbohydrate meal lowered the blood sugar rise after eating, in a dose-dependent way. Trials in people with prediabetes, metabolic syndrome or diabetes found lower fasting glucose and improved long-term blood sugar control.

Blood pressure

Some trials in people found a drop in systolic blood pressure after eating pistachios, but other trials found no difference in systolic or diastolic blood pressure. A review of more than 20 trials suggested pistachios had the strongest effect on lowering both.

Weight and fullness

Trials in people found no weight gain from eating pistachios, and some found a small drop in BMI or waist size. Pistachios also gave a similar feeling of fullness to other afternoon snacks.

Animal and lab studies

Cancer, in lab tests

Extracts from pistachio hull and from mastic, a resin from a related tree, killed or slowed cancer cells in lab tests, including colon, breast, liver and pancreatic cancer cells. One overview noted a cancer bioassay in animals found more early liver lesions after mastic, while other animal studies found mastic protected the liver.

Studies in people and animals

Gut bacteria

A trial in people found pistachios increased butyrate-producing bacteria in the gut. In diabetic rats and in mice on a high-fat diet, pistachio increased beneficial bacteria and reduced bacteria linked to inflammation.

What the authors conclude

“The pistachio is valued as an important source of bioactive components that, compared to other nuts, possesses a healthier nutritional profile with low-fat content composed mainly of MUFA, a high source of vegetable protein and dietary fibre, remarkable content of minerals, especially potassium, and an excellent source of vitamins, such as vitamins C and E.”

Mateos R, Salvador MD, Fregapane G, Goya L, 2022

Also in their conclusions

They say pistachio has a healthier nutritional profile than other nuts, with low-fat content mainly from monounsaturated fats, and is a good source of vegetable protein, fibre, potassium and vitamins C and E.
They conclude that diets supplemented with pistachios may help prevent type 2 diabetes by improving glucose homeostasis, reducing oxidative stress and lowering the rate of gestational diabetes.
They advise that more studies are needed on gut bacteria, appetite and long-term effects, and that barriers like the belief that nuts are fattening, high cost and teeth problems can be solved with more research and information.

How it was done

The authors say pistachio has been studied less than other nuts, even though it has a healthy nutritional profile. They wanted to gather the evidence on its health effects and look at why people do not eat enough nuts.

They gathered and reviewed studies on pistachio, including trials in people with and without health conditions, animal studies, and lab studies. They also looked at surveys on why people do or do not eat nuts.

What it can’t tell you

Many of the findings come from small or short studies, so they cannot show what happens over years.
Some findings come from animals or cells, which cannot show what happens in people.
The review cannot prove that pistachios cause the health effects seen, only that they are linked in the studies gathered.

Who paid

Funding: Funded by Spanish National Research Council (from the PubMed record).
Conflicts: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Authors work at: Institute of Food Science, Spain

The paper

Title: Why Should Pistachio Be a Regular Food in Our Diet?
Type: ReviewThe authors read earlier studies and describe what they found. It isn’t a new study.
Evidence: Studies in people · animals · lab
Summarised from: Full text
Licence: CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
Cite: Mateos R, Salvador MD, Fregapane G, Goya L (2022). Why Should Pistachio Be a Regular Food in Our Diet?. Nutrients. doi:10.3390/nu14153207Free full text PubMed 35956383 DOI

Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error