Study: 1.5 oz of Almonds Daily Improves Gastro Health
Adding 1.5 oz of almonds to your daily diet will improve your gastrointestinal health, according to recent research.
Nuts are high in fiber, which means they help maintain the balance of microbiota in the gut. However, little research has explored almonds’ impact on microbiota changes.
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To conduct their study, researchers paired 29 parents with their children and instructed parents to eat 1.5 oz and children to eat 0.5 oz of almonds or almond butter per day for 3 weeks.
Researchers analyzed participants’ stool samples for microbiota and saliva samples for immunoglobulin A. Participants also completed daily questionnaires and recorded their Healthy Eating Scores (based on a 100-point scale).
After 14 weeks, parents improved their Healthy Eating Score from 53.7 ± 1.8 at baseline to 61.4 ± 1.4 at follow-up, and children improved their score from 53.7 ± 2.6 to 61.4 ± 2.2.
In addition, researchers noted minimal to no change in gastrointestinal symptoms and stool frequency. Microbiota changes were only seen at the genus level and were more common in children than adults.
“Although higher intakes of almonds or longer interventions may be needed to demonstrate effects on immune status, a moderate intake of almonds improves diet quality in adults and their young children and modulates microbiota composition,” researchers concluded.
—Amanda Balbi
Reference:
Burns AM, Zitt MA, Rowe CC, et al. Diet quality improves for parents and children when almonds are incorporated into their daily diet: A randomized, crossover study. Nutr Research. Published online November 2015. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nutres.2015.11.004.