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ARS Home Pacific West Area Davis, California Western Human Nutrition Research Center Immunity and Disease Prevention Research Research





- Stephensen, Charles
- Human Nutrition (107)

Research Project: **Location:
                            Immunity and Disease Prevention Research** Project Number: 2032-10700-002-010-G
                        
                        Project Type: Grant Start Date: Sep 15, 2022
                        
                        End Date: Aug 14, 2025 **Objective:**
                        
                        The objective of this research is for Loma Linda University to determine the effect of daily consumption of peanuts or peanut butter on immune function, cardiometabolic markers and risk factors in free-living adults. **Approach:**
                        
                        The Cooperator will conduct a 12-week parallel-group, free-living, observer-blind, randomized controlled trial in 98 adult male and female volunteers. 
Subjects will be recruited from Loma Linda and surrounding communities in Southern California. Participants will be selected by a multi-stage process. Recruitment strategies include using advertisements, flyers, public service announcement, and a dedicated study website. ARS also has a database of over 2000 individuals consisting of participants of previous studies conducted or that indicated interest in participating and will also leverage this database to advertise the study. Respondents will fill out a brief screening questionnaire on the study website (or administered via telephone) based on the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Those who meet the eligibility criteria will be asked to attend a group information meeting at the Nutrition Research Center where the study investigators will explain the purpose and requirements of the study in detail and answer any questions potential participants may have.  Lastly, all the subjects meeting the eligibility criteria and consenting to participate will be independently interviewed by two senior investigators to confirm screening information and assess the degree of the subject’s commitment to follow the study protocol. 

Selected participants will be randomly assigned to either the Peanut or Control group. For 12 weeks, the peanut group will be asked to consume 2 ounces/day of peanuts including peanut butter (about 17-20% of their energy needs) while the control group will be asked to avoid peanuts/peanut-containing foods as they continue eating their habitual diet. Participants in the peanut group will be provided the daily portion of peanuts (lightly dry roasted) and natural peanut butter in small pouches or sacks. Food frequency questionnaire at baseline and end of study will be used as a dietary assessment method to both improve adherence and to assess compliance. 

We will be assessing the effects of daily peanut intake on immune functions by testing various immune markers via blood draws at baseline and week 12 and similarly the cardiometabolic markers at the baseline and week 12. Dietary assessment will done using food frequency questionnaires.


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