The Top 5 Healthiest Nuts You Can Eat (Does Your Fave Make the Cut?)

#5 Cashews

There are many great reasons to eat nuts! But some have more health benefits than others. Let’s start with cashews. Though they are, surprisingly, in the same family as poison ivy, cashews are a popular snack nut—and just as healthy as they are delicious. Cashews contain phytates with anti-inflammatory properties, as well as the essential minerals phosphorous, magnesium, copper, and manganese. Recent research reveals that men and women with moderately elevated LDL (bad) cholesterol who consumed between 16 and 36 cashews daily, experienced a reduction in total and LDL cholesterol after one month. The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, is the only published study to date linking cashews to improved blood lipids. But Molecular Nutrition and Food Research reported another study of a compound in the cashew nut—anacardic acid—that could improve how cells take in glucose, suggesting a potential benefit for diabetics.