29 percent Cancer related deaths caused is the United States is because of Lung Cancer. Smoking causes 90 percent of these deaths in men. 85 percent women are diagnosed with Lung Cancer because of this bad habit. Common treatment techniques are effective if the disease is found out early. Moreover these techniques are costly and have side effects of their own. But daily intake of pistachios in diet can reduce to risks of Lung Cancer. This is what researchers in the American Association for Cancer Research Frontiers, in Cancer Prevention Research Conference have to say. This article tries to gain further insight.

Knowledge Gained From Research Studies:

• Researchers knew that Vitamin E has the potential to fight against several types of Cancer.
• But the studies revealed that a new form of Vitamin E called as gamma-tocopherol is found in Pistachios. It is found to be effective in fighting against lung cancer.
• According Dr. Ladia M. Hernandez, senior research dietitian, Department of Epidemiology, University of Texas, Pistachios are antioxidants and can reduce cholesterol too.
• Her research team conducted a study to understand the relation between Pistachios intake in diet and risk of cancers.
• At the end of the study, it was learnt that a diet rich in pistachios (2 ounce per day), reduces the risk of several types of cancer.
• Intake of peanuts, pecans, walnuts, soybean and corn oils was also found to be equally beneficial.
• These findings are announced in the conference held between 6th – 9th December 2009.

What the Research Study Involved: The study was conducted at Texas Woman’s University, Houston Center. 36 healthy people were divided in two groups of 18 members each. One group (the control group) was given a normal diet. Another group (called the intervention group) was given 2 ounces of pistachios per day for four weeks. By the end of the study, the research team found that level of gamma-tocopherol vitamin E was significantly higher in the intervention group. The daily intake of this nut do not change the body mass index significantly. It is the ratio between a person’s weight and his height and is a vital parameter which decides our level of fitness.