Effects of Almond Consumption on the Human Gastrointestinal Microbiota and Metabolic Health

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign40 enrolled

Overview

The proposed work will investigate the effect of almond consumption as a snack on human gastrointestinal microbiota and on metabolic health.

This study is a randomized, controlled, investigator-blinded, parallel arm design with two treatment conditions. There will be a phone screening, in person pre-intervention testing, a one-week baseline period devoid of all nuts and seeds followed by a 12-week intervention period, and a post-testing appointment. Participants will be randomized to consume almonds or isocaloric snack for 12 weeks. Participants will provide stool samples during baseline testing and during the 12th week of the intervention.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

Conditions

Overweight and Obesity

Interventions

AlmondsDIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Participants in the intervention group will consume 2oz of almonds daily over the course of 12 weeks.

PretzelsDIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Participants in the control group will consume an isocaloric amount of pretzels daily over the course of 12 weeks.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 30 YearsMax age: 60 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Males \& Females * 30-60 years of age * BMI 25-34.9 kg/m\^2 * Ability to drop off fecal sample within 15 minutes of defecation Exclusion Criteria: * Physician diagnosed metabolic or gastrointestinal diseases * Fasting blood glucose \>126 mg/dL * Blood pressure \>160/100 mm Hg * Anemia * Elevation in serum transaminases (i.e. \>3 times the upper limit of normal) * Evidence of liver disease, including primary biliary cirrhosis or gallbladder disease, constipation * Currently taking lipid-lowering medications, oral hypoglycemic agents, or insulin, or medications known to impact bowel function. * Pregnant, breastfeeding or postmenopausal * Smoker, tobacco use * Allergic to nuts * Consume \> 2 alcoholic beverages/day * Abuse drugs * Have had \> 5% weight change in the past month or \> 10% change in the past year * Have taken antibiotics during the previous 2 months * Unable to consume the experimental treatments (almonds or pretzels) * Bariatric surgery * Gallbladder removal * Allergic to lidocaine or other topical anesthetics

Locations (1)

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Urbana, Illinois, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Changes in gastrointestinal microbiota composition

Determine the impact of daily consumption of almonds on the gastrointestinal microbiota compared to control (pretzels) by sequencing the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene in fecal samples.