Tip: Nuts can help lower bad cholesterol

Two new studies say it's a good idea to go nuts.

Researchers at Loma Linda University in California found that people who ate about 2 1/2 ounces of nuts a day had a 5 percent drop in LDL "bad" cholesterol. The study appears in the current issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. Among the nuts credited with cholesterol-reducing benefits are walnuts, macadamias, almonds and pistachios. Peanuts, though actually not a nut, also were found to help reduce cholesterol.

And a study of 2,148 people older than 65 by researchers at the Columbia University Medical Center found that those whose diet had higher amounts of nuts, fish, fruits and dark, leafy vegetables and lower amounts of high-fat dairy products and red meat had a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's. That study was published in April in the online edition of the Archives of Neurology.