New research calls pistachios a superfood for people with desk jobs
Recent research gave 86 percent of Americans who sit all day at their workplaces a new reason to reach for a handful of nuts at work, and particularly, pistachios. Adding to the volume of research surrounding the health benefits of pistachios, one study and a national survey in the US have shown that snacking on pistachios can improve brain power and concentration levels at work.
Pistachios help office workers stay focused until lunchtime
In a national survey, 1,000 American office workers who skipped breakfast ate a 42-gram snack (1 and 1/2 serving size) of pistachios between 9 and 11 am. Ninety-two percent of participants said they were “distracted from their duties at work because they were hungry before lunch.” Eighty percent said they generally feel hungry in the morning before lunch and consider food often or every day.
Pistachio snacks in the morning proved to be just right to fulfill their needs throughout the morning. Ninety-two percent of participants reported the pistachio snack helped improve their concentration at work as the study stated, “somewhat or greatly.”
That’s not surprising, according to Dr. Mike Roussell, nutrition expert and advisor. “Skipping breakfast is never a good idea, but even with a good breakfast and lunch, stress-induced hunger pangs and pangs can get in the way, leading to unhealthy snacking habits.”
Roussell says pistachios are an ideal mid-day or mid-afternoon snack because of their unique nutritional package that not only promotes feelings of fullness and satiety, but also, new studies show, can promote optimal mental states and more focus at work.
More and more people with desk jobs are searching for healthier snack alternatives to the usual donuts and vending machine fare. Ninety percent of survey participants said they believed pistachio snacks were healthier than regular snacks. The study involved office workers in the Northeastern, Southern, Midwestern, and Western US who snacked at their desks two or more times a week in the middle of the day.
Pistachios may have a role in improving brain function
Loma Linda University (LLU) researchers found that eating nuts regularly increases the frequency of brain waves related to cognition, learning, memory, memory, and other key brain functions. While research studies many nuts, pistachios elicited the greatest gamma wave response, which is critical for enhancing cognitive processing, information retention, learning, and perception.
In the study, electroencephalograms (EEG) were taken to measure the strength of brainwave signals. EEG waveband activity was then recorded from nine scalp regions related to cerebral cortical function.
“This study provides significant useful findings by showing that nuts are as good for your brain as they are for the rest of your body,” said the study’s lead researcher, Lee Berk, DrPH, MPH, dean for research at the LLU School of Allied Health Professions, in an interview featured in the November 2017 issue of LLU publication Today. The research abstract was presented at Experimental Biology 2017 in San Diego, California, and published in the FASEB Journal.
Workplace snacking surveys and health benefit studies add to a growing base of pistachio research, confirming that pistachios have all the qualities ideal for a to-work snack.
