The effects of cashew nut intake on lipid profile and blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background: Dyslipidemia and hypertension are important risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Some studies have suggested that the consumption of nuts may reduce CVD risk. Objective: The present systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the efficacy of cashew nut consumption on lipid profile and blood pressure. Methods: PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science and Cochrane Library were systematically searched to identify randomized control trials (RCTs) examining the effects of cashew nut intake on serum triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), serum total cholesterol (TC), systolic blood pressure (SBP) or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) until 15 November 2019. Random-effects or fixed-effects models were used to pool weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Potential publication bias was assessed using Egger’s test. Sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the impact of each individual study on the pooled results. Results: A meta-analysis on 392 participants showed that cashew consumption had no significant effects on lipid profile and DBP. However, there was a significant reduction in SBP (WMD = -3.39, 95% CI = [-6.13, -0.65], P = 0.01, I2 = 0.0%) in the group receiving an increased cashew nut intake compared to the controls. There was no significant publication bias in the meta-analysis. A sensitivity analysis, omitting single trials in turn, did not have a significant effect on the pooled results. Conclusion: This meta-analysis demonstrated that cashew nut consumption might reduce SBP but has no effects on lipid profile and DBP.