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Eating a handful of pistachios every day can lower your diabetes risk, a new study reveals.

According to the study which seeks to examine if daily consumption of pistachio improves prediabetes conditions, a reversal of deleterious consequences of prediabetes is possible with such consumption.  

Fox News reports that people who were part of study consumed two ounces of pistachio along with their regular diet. They not only experienced lowered sugar and insulin levels, but also showed improvements in glucose and insulin processing.

In the conclusion of the study published in Diabetes Care Journal, the authors remarked, "Chronic pistachio consumption is emerging as a useful nutritional strategy for the prediabetic state."

As part of the study 54 prediabetic participants were divided into two groups. 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 in lieu of pistachio.

Reporting the study results, Latin Post said the weight of participants did not change but the pistachio group reported lowered fasting blood sugar levels, insulin and hormonal markers of insulin resistance. Additionally, the pistachio group members also showed improve insulin use by immune cells, which indicated reduction in inflammatory signs.

"Although pistachios were examined in this work, I believe that any beneficial effects on glucose metabolism are shared by all nuts, as they have a general composition with lots of bioactive compounds liable to beneficially affect biological pathways leading to insulin resistance and diabetes," Dr. Emilio Ros, director of the Lipid Clinic of the Endocrinology and Nutrition Service at Barcelona Hospital Clinic said, according to Medical Daily. Dr Ros was not part of the study. 

Prediabetic conditions if left unaddressed, are known to trigger onset of diabetes within five years.