Dietary modification has been shown to benefit individuals with metabolic syndrome, a known risk factor for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. High quality diets are protective of metabolic syndrome because they provide nutrients required by the body for the maintenance of proper metabolic function and are also rich in antioxidants and other phytochemicals that may play beneficial roles in health. Tree nuts are one group of foods that research has shown to benefit the health of those who consume them regularly, and can therefore improve the quality of the diet. Almonds contain high levels of magnesium, fibre, arginine, polyphenolic compounds, vitamin E and monounsaturated fatty acids (such as oleic acid). Epidemiology has shown an inverse association between nut consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes, but the exact mechanism by which nuts might be protective of insulin disorders is not known.
In order to increase the understanding of how nuts might modify risk of type 2 diabetes, researchers1 used a randomised parallel group trial involving 65 adult subjects with prediabetes to investigate the effect of almonds on the symptoms of prediabetes. The intervention diet was based on an American Diabetes Association diet which contains 20% of energy from almonds, In contrast, the control group received an identical diet containing no almonds, but a similar amount of energy from other foods such as meat and other fats. The ADA diet contained 15-20% protein, <10% saturated fatty acids, 60-70% carbohydrates and monounsaturated fatty acids and <300mg/d cholesterol. Dietary counselling was given to ensure understanding of food selection for improved reliability, and food records were kept by the subjects in order to provide a record of food consumed and to ensure compliance with the recommendations.
The results showed that subjects consuming the ADA almond rich diet had greater reductions in insulin when compared to the control group (-1.78µU/mL versus 1.47 µU/mL). In addition, the homeostasis model analysis for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and homeostasis model for β-cell function (HOMA-B) was significantly improved in the treatment group compared to the control group (-0.48 versus +0.30 and -13.2 versus +22.3, respectively). There were also significant improvements in the low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels of the intervention group (-12.4mg/dL) when compared to the control group (-0.4mg/dL). No significant differences were seen in the systolic blood pressure or body mass index between the two groups. Almonds therefore appear to be beneficial to subjects with pre-diabetes. This may be due to the micronutrients contained within the nuts, such as vitamin E and magnesium, or may be due to some unknown factor.
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