Do macadamia nuts make you gain weight or help your heart?
Macadamia nut effects on cardiometabolic risk factors: a randomised trial
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Macadamia nuts lowered cholesterol without reducing saturated fat intake.
Most dietary interventions that improve cholesterol require cutting saturated fat. Here, SFA intake stayed the same, yet a cholesterol-lowering trend emerged — likely due to the high monounsaturated fat content.
Practical Takeaways
Add a daily serving of macadamia nuts (about 15% of your calories) to your diet without fear of weight gain.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Macadamia nuts lowered cholesterol without reducing saturated fat intake.
Most dietary interventions that improve cholesterol require cutting saturated fat. Here, SFA intake stayed the same, yet a cholesterol-lowering trend emerged — likely due to the high monounsaturated fat content.
Practical Takeaways
Add a daily serving of macadamia nuts (about 15% of your calories) to your diet without fear of weight gain.
Publication
Journal
Journal of Nutritional Science
Year
2023
Authors
Julie L. Jones, J. Sabaté, Celine E Heskey, K. Oda, Fayth L. Miles, S. Rajaram
Related Content
Claims (6)
Eating macadamia nuts every day for two months might slightly lower bad cholesterol in people who are overweight or obese — but the change is pretty small and might not make a big difference.
Eating macadamia nuts might help lower cholesterol more in people who are overweight but not obese, especially if they have less body fat, compared to those with more body fat or obesity.
If people who are overweight or obese swap about 15% of their daily food calories with macadamia nuts for 8 weeks, it doesn’t seem to change their blood sugar or insulin levels in any noticeable way.
Eating macadamia nuts doesn't really lower your bad cholesterol much, but walnuts do make a noticeable difference.
Eating macadamia nuts every day — even if it adds about 97 extra calories — doesn’t make you gain weight or body fat if you're overweight and have belly fat, so they can be part of your regular diet without messing up your body composition.