Sep 03, 2014 12:37 AM EDT By J Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Eating pistachios may reduce the risk of developing diabetes, according to a recent study.

Spanish researchers found that people with prediabetes can lower their risk of developing diabetes by eating a handful of pistachios every day, Counsel and Heal reported.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people with prediabetes have higher blood sugar levels than normal but not yet in the diabetes range. This group still has a chance to avoid the chronic disease.

For the study, researchers divided 54 prediabetic adults into two groups. The groups were instructed to keep to a calorie-regulated diet with 50 percent of energy from carbohydrates, 35 percent from fat and 15 percent from protein, using provided menus and seasonal recipes.

One group was asked to consume pistachio for four months along with their regular diet which comprised 50 percent carbohydrate, 35 percent fat and 15 percent protein. The other group consumed olive oil and fats instead of pistachio.

Researchers found that those who ate about two ounces of pistachios daily showed significant drops in blood sugar and insulin levels.  They also had improvements in insulin and glucose processing. Some signs of inflammation also dropped dramatically.

"This particular study builds on previous research on pistachios," Dr. Joan Sabate, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the School of Public Health at Loma Linda University in California, who wasn't part of the Spanish study, told Reuters Health. "There are some indications that eating pistachios on a regular basis lowers fasting glucose and lowers insulin and hormone ratio, which is particularly relevant in prediabetic subjects because unless they do a change in lifestyle they will end up being diabetic. So the fact that eating nuts on a regular basis seems to improve some of the critical parameters is very relevant."

The findings were recently published in the journal Diabetes Care.

See Now: Covert Team Inside Newsweek Revealed as Key Players in False Human Trafficking Lawsuit