Because high blood pressure can put us at risk for heart disease, researchers from a 2020 systematic review published in the British Journal of Nutrition set out to see if munching on pistachios had an effect on participant blood pressure levels, along with various other cardiovascular disease risk factors. Across 13 clinical trials involving over 560 participants, the researchers found that eating pistachios was linked with reductions in systolic blood pressure. This relationship was not seen between pistachio consumption and diastolic blood pressure, however, indicating the need for further study.
Incorporating pistachios into one’s daily diet may also benefit those with certain health conditions. This was evidenced in a 2013 study published in Hypertension, where it was found that participants with lipid imbalances (such as high LDL “bad” cholesterol levels and low HDL “good” cholesterol levels) who ate 1 serving of pistachios daily experienced the greatest average drop in systolic blood pressure measurements compared to other diets. Similar results were found in a 2018 study published in Circulation where patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes spent 8 weeks adhering to two different diets. The moderate fat pistachio diet consisted of eating between 2 and 5 ounces of pistachios each day. The study findings showed that systolic blood pressure dropped significantly in the 24 hours following the pistachio diet. The researchers concluded that eating pistachios on a daily basis may support healthy blood pressure levels in patients with type 2 diabetes.