TABLE 1.
Characteristics of the 17 included studies examining the effect of tree nut and peanut consumption on energy intake and/or energy compensation in adults aged ≥18 y
| Reference; country | Study design | Population; mean BMI (kg/m2); mean age (y) | Sample size (completers) | Control diet | Intervention diet | Nut type, form, and dose | Duration of measurement | Food intake measurement | Quality appraisal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alves et al. [37]; Brazil | RCT | Men with overweight or obesity; 29.8; 27.1 | 71 (100% M, 0% F) | Participants consumed milkshake and biscuits (isocaloric to intervention and matched macronutrient content) | Participants consumed milkshake and peanuts | 1: High-oleic peanuts (unpeeled roasted); 56 g | 1 d | Completed food record for remainder of day. After study protocol, a 750 kcal meal was offered (sandwich, juice, and apple) | Positive |
| 2: conventional peanuts (unpeeled roasted); 56 g | |||||||||
| Barbour et al. [38]; Australia | RCT (crossover) | Healthy adults with overweight or obesity; 30 (M) and 31 (F); 62 (M) and 61 (F) | 24 (54% M, 46% F) | Participants provided with snack (15%–20% of daily energy intake): unsalted potato crisps (M: 90 g, F: 60 g) | Participants provided with snack (15%–20% of daily energy intake): high-oleic peanuts or regular peanuts | 1: High-oleic peanuts (roasted unsalted) | 180 min | Buffet meal contained preweighed food and beverages to calculate energy intake | Positive |
| 2: Regular peanuts (roasted unsalted) | |||||||||
| 84 g (M) and 56 g (F) | |||||||||
| Brown et al. [40]; New Zealand | RCT (crossover) | Healthy; 23.1; median age 29 | 100 (25% M, 75% F) | Standard breakfast (muesli, yogurt, milk) providing ∼20% of energy requirements. Snack of sweet biscuits consumed 2 h after breakfast | Standard breakfast providing ∼20% of energy requirements. Snack of almonds consumed 2 h after breakfast (isocaloric to control) | Almonds (raw): 10% of participant energy requirements or 42.5 g (1030 kJ), whichever provided more energy | 120 min; then food records for remainder of test day | Unlimited lunch of unevenly cut sandwiches. Intake calculated by subtracting leftovers from the amount presented. Participants recorded all food and drinks consumed for the remainder of the day using paper diaries (weighed records) | Positive |
| Burton-Freeman [41]; USA | RCT (crossover) | Healthy; 23; 33 (men, n = 12) and 30 (women, n = 13) | 25 (48% M, 52% F) | Consumption of either: control shake (low-fat, 4% energy as fat); or shake containing 12.5 g safflower oil (39% energy as fat) M: 300 g (1254 kJ), F: 225 g shake (941 kJ) |
1: Walnut shake (39% energy as fat) | Walnuts (finely ground, or oil, as part of a shake) | 45 min; then food records for remainder of test day | Participants provided with a preweighed lunch tray and completed food records on the test days | Positive |
| 2: Walnut oil shake (39% energy as fat) | 1: Shake containing 20 g finely ground walnuts | ||||||||
| M: 300 g (1254 kJ), F: 225 g shake (941 kJ) | 2: Shake containing 12.5 g walnut oil1 | ||||||||
| Burton-Freeman et al. [42]; USA | RCT (crossover) | Healthy; 25 (men, 8) and 23 (women, 7); 30 (M) and 35 (F) | 15 (53% M, 47% F) | Breakfast meal including muffin made with safflower and corn oil. Test meal provided approximately one-third of average daily energy of men (4.1 MJ) and women (3.2 MJ) (isocaloric to intervention) | Breakfast meal including either whole almonds or a muffin made with almond oil. Test meal provided approximately one-third of average daily energy of men (4.1 MJ) and women (3.2 MJ) | 1: Whole almonds; 40 g (men) and 28 g (women) | 6 h | Participants were offered a tray containing preweighed food (fruit, cookies, chips, nuts, drinks etc.). Participants kept half-day food records (after study period until midnight of same day) | Positive |
| 2: Almond oil; weight of muffin containing almond oil: 110 g (men) and 75 g (women) | |||||||||
| Carughi et al. [43]; France | RCT (parallel) | Healthy women; 21.6; 35 | 60 (0% M, 100% F) | Afternoon snack of 56 g of “Gouda aperitif biscuits” (isocaloric to intervention) | Afternoon snack of 56 g pistachios | Pistachios (roasted, lightly salted, in-shell); 56 g | 1 d2 | Participants kept a food diary | Positive |
| Costa et al. [45]; Brazil | RCT (crossover) | Adults with overweight or obesity; 30.9; 29.0 | 15 (33% M, 67% F) | Shake without nuts (isocaloric to intervention, matched macronutrient content) | Shake containing nuts. Nuts crushed to give similar texture to control | 30 g cashews (ground) and 15 g Brazil nuts (ground) | 4 h; then food records for remainder of test day | Served an unlimited lunch after shake, weighed food before and after lunch consumption. Intake of remaining day (after lunch) estimated through food record | Positive |
| Devi et al. [46]; New Zealand | RCT (crossover) | Healthy; 24.08; 30.2 | 32 (34% M, 66% F) | Replace normal bread consumption at breakfast with white bread | Replace normal bread consumption at breakfast with 1 of the 3 test breads: bread containing slices hazelnuts, bread containing semi-defatted hazelnut flour, or bread containing a combination of both | Hazelnuts: | 1 d3 | Participants recorded a weighed food diary on the test day | Positive |
| 1: finely sliced | |||||||||
| 2: semi-defatted flour | |||||||||
| 3: combination of the 2 | |||||||||
| 1: 30 g/120 g bread | |||||||||
| 2: 30 g/120 g bread | |||||||||
| 3: 15 g each sliced and flour per 120 g bread | |||||||||
| Devitt et al. [47]; USA, Ghana and Brazil | RCT (parallel)4 | Healthy Americans, Ghanaians, and Brazilians; 23.1 (USA n = 63), 21.9 (Ghana n = 78), and 22.9 (Brazil n = 60); 22 (USA), 25 (Ghana), and 24 (Brazil) | 201 (50% M, 50% F) | The snack mix was presented at 2 eating occasions (with a lunch meal, “meal”; or alone 120 min after the provided lunch, “snack”) on separate days | One of the 2 treatment arms: peanuts or snack mix with peanuts. Presented as per control protocol. Treatments and control isocaloric | 1: peanuts (52 g) | 1 d | Participants kept a food record for the whole of the test day | Positive |
| 2: snack mix with peanuts (containing 26 g peanuts) | |||||||||
| 1255 kJ per treatment | |||||||||
| Fantino et al. [48]; France | RCT (crossover) | Healthy premenopausal women; 23.425 and 23.606; 335 and 306 | 57 (0% M, 100% F) | No mid-morning snack | Mid-morning snack of pistachios | Pistachios (shelled, slightly salted); 44 g | 2 h; then food records for remainder of test day7 | Amounts of lunch foods were weighed and recorded, plate waste was measured. Then, participants kept food diaries for remainder of the day | Positive |
| Hollingworth et al. [50]; UK | RCT (crossover) | Healthy; 22.0; 26.0 | 42 (0% M, 100% F) | Mid-morning snack of either water or savory crackers8 | Mid-morning snack of almonds | Almonds (raw): 0.9 g per kilogram of body weight | 1 d | All foods measured preconsumption and postconsumption to determine energy intake (from unlimited lunch, dinner, and snack box) | Positive |
| Hull et al. [51]; UK | RCT (crossover) | Healthy; 22.7; 48.4 | 32 (0% M, 100% F) | Mid-morning snack of water only. | Mid-morning snack of water and almonds | Almonds (raw whole); 28 g (half-dose) or 42 g (full dose) | 1 d | Unlimited lunch and dinner weighed before and after consumption to calculate energy intake | Positive |
| Johnston and Buller [52]; USA | RCT (crossover) | Healthy; 22.7; 27.9 | 11 (9% M, 91% F) | Participants consumed first test meal (bagel and juice) with sweetened water (with or without apple cider vinegar added). This procedure was repeated for a second test meal (teriyaki chicken and rice) | As per control diet, except peanut butter on bagel and roasted peanuts in chicken meal. Added peanut butter or peanuts did not change energy content | Peanut butter and peanuts (roasted); 25 g each | 1 d | Food records for remainder of day completed by participants | Neutral |
| Johnston, Trier and Fleming [53]; USA | RCT (crossover) | Healthy; 23.1; 28.4 | 15 (13% M, 87% F) | Participants consumed either a cup of water only, or a grain bar and water, followed by a standardized meal (buttered bagel and juice) 60 min later | As per control diet, except participants consumed peanuts (isocaloric to grain bar) and water. Consumed same standardized meal 60 min later | Peanuts; 23 g | 1 d | Participants asked to record all food and beverages consumed on the test day | Positive |
| Kirkmeyer and Mattes [18]; USA | RCT (crossover): Within-subject design | Healthy; BMI not reported (normal weight, 12%–28% body fat); 22 | 24 (50% M, 50% F) | Consumed a preload of either: milk chocolate, dill pickles, salt-free and fat-free rice cakes, or no load | Consumed a preload of either: peanuts, peanut butter, almonds, or chestnuts | 1: peanuts (unsalted) | 1 d | Participants trained in diet records before the study. Participants used a standard form to record intake for 24 h before and after preload | Positive |
| 2: peanut butter (low sodium) | |||||||||
| 3: almonds (bulk, raw) | |||||||||
| 4: chestnuts (whole, in water, rinsed and baked) | |||||||||
| 500 kcal portion: 87.5 g peanuts, 70.8 g PB, 80.4 g almonds, 235.8 g chestnuts | |||||||||
| Reis et al. [54]; Brazil | RCT (crossover) | Healthy; 22.7; 28.5 | 13 (31% M, 69% F) | Control meal: cheese sandwich with 200 mL water. Matched to intervention meals for energy and macronutrient content | One of the 3 intervention meals (peanuts) with 200 mL water | 1: peanuts (raw, with skin); 63 g | 24 h after test meal | Participants kept free-feeding dietary records over the 24 h after test meal consumption | Positive |
| 2: peanuts (roasted, without skin); 63 g | |||||||||
| 3: peanuts (roasted, ground, without skin); 63 g | |||||||||
| Reis et al. [55]; Brazil | RCT (crossover) | Adults with obesity; 32.36; 35.33 | 13 (0% M, 100% F) | Breakfast contained orange juice and cereal (not isocaloric to interventions) | Breakfast with the addition of either whole peanuts or peanut butter | 1: peanuts (whole, no skins; WP); 42.5 g | 4 h; then food records for remainder of test day | Standard lunch provided. Participants were trained to record food, and recorded food intake before the study (baseline eating habits). After leaving the laboratory on test day, participants recorded all food and drink consumed for the rest of the day | Positive |
| 2: PB; 42.5 g |
F, female; M, male; PB, peanut butter; WP, whole peanuts.
1
Study includes additional arm of shake containing 12.5 g safflower oil, not reported here.
2
Part of a 4-wk study.
3
Part of an 8-d study.
4
All participants received control (isoenergetic portion of experimental lunch) and 1 of the 3 treatment arms: peanuts, snack mix, or snack mix with peanuts. Study treated as a parallel study with snack mix treated as control owing to similar macronutrient content to peanuts.
5
Control arm, n = 30.
6
Intervention arm, n = 30.
7
Part of a 12-wk study.
8
Cracker arm treated as a control because isocaloric to almonds.