Daily almond consumption reduces fasting total‐, LDL‐, and non‐HDL cholesterol and body fat mass in healthy young Korean subjects: A randomized controlled trial
Authors: Park Hyunjin , Liu Yanan , Song Yeonju , Kim Hyun‐Sook 
Published: November 2023

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of daily almonds intake on changes of anthropometric measurement and biochemical analyses in Korean young adults. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) Control (CL; n=55), in which participants were provided commercial crackers which have similar calories with those of 56g of almonds; (2) Pre‐meal group (PM; n=58), and (3) Snack group (SN; n=56), in which participants were instructed to consume 56g of almonds per day as an appetizer or between meals as snacks, respectively. During each visit (at 0, 8, and 16 weeks), the participants’ anthropometric and in‐body measurement, blood pressure, serum lipids (consisting of total cholesterol, HDL‐C, LDL‐C, and triglycerides), serum IL‐6, MDA, oxidized‐LDL, and CRP were measured after a minimum 8‐hour fast. The significance of the differences between baseline (week 0) and each period (weeks 8 and 16) among different interventions were assessed using the general linear model for repeated measures with the Duncan multi‐comparison. Differences at baseline and Δ (change from baseline to week 8 or 16) among the three groups were determined by using the ANOVA. The mean age was 26.33 years old and 53.8% (n=91) of the participants were women. Body fat mass of PM group was significantly lower compared with that of the control group after consuming the almonds for 8 weeks (p=.034). At week 16, both PM and SN groups showed significant changes in body fat mass compared with control group (p=.007). There was a significance among three groups (p=.007) and pairwise comparison confirmed the significant differences of changes in body fat mass between PM and CL groups (p=.002). Changes in serum total cholesterol levels were significantly different among three groups at week 8 (p=.049), whereas no differences were observed at week 16 due to the great reduction of cholesterol levels in CL group. There was a difference among three groups (p=.043) and pairwise comparison confirmed a significance of changes in total cholesterol between SN and CL groups (p=.013). Serum LDL‐cholesterol levels of almond groups were significantly reduced than those of CL group at both week 8 (p=.034) and week 16 (p=.019). There was a significant difference among three groups (p=.011) with pairwise difference between SN and CL groups (p=.003). Non‐HDL cholesterol levels were calculated using the equation non‐HDL cholesterol (mg/dL) = total cholesterol − HDL‐cholesterol. A significant reduction in non‐HDL cholesterol was observed in SN group at both weeks 8 (p=.036) and 16 (p=.034) compared with the CL. Results of between‐subjects effects indicated that there was a difference among three groups (p=.013) also with a significance between SN and CL groups based on the pairwise comparison (p=.004). The results suggest that daily almond consumption for 16 weeks may decrease the body fat mass even though there is no visible changes in BMI. In addition, daily almond consumption is effective to lower the total, LDL, and non‐HDL cholesterol levels in young and healthy subjects.

Support or Funding Information

Grant Funding Source: Almond Board of California