One of my favourite afternoon snacks is a couple of dried apricots and a small handful of toasted pecans (okay, and sometimes a few dark chocolate chips). Now a new study is providing more reasons to add pecans to my breakfast muffins, lunchtime salads or dinner stirfrys.

Eating about a handful of pecans each day may play a role in protecting the nervous system, according to an animal study conducted at the Center for Cellular Neurobiology at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and published in Current Topics in Nutraceutical Research.

The scientists suggest that a natural antioxidant found in pecans, vitamin E, may play a role in protecting our nervous system. Antioxidants are food nutrients that help guard against cell damage, and research has shown they can help fight diseases such as Parkinson’s and heart disease. Of the tree nuts, pecans contain the most antioxidants.

For easy ways to add pecans and other tree nuts to your daily menus, see 10 tasty ways to cook with nuts or check out our Apricot and Pecan Muffin recipe—yum!

What’s your favourite way to cook with pecans?