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. 2017 Jun 28;9(7):673. doi: 10.3390/nu9070673

Table 5.

Summary of acute clinical studies analyzing the effect of nut consumption on postprandial response.

First Author (Year) [Reference] N° of Subjects (M/F) Type of Subject (Age in Years) Type of Nut (Study Design) Control Group Intervention Group Glucose and Insulin Metabolism Outcomes Other Outcomes
Jenkins, D.J.; et al. (2006) [69] 15 (7/8) Healthy subjects (26.3 ± 8.6) Almonds (crossover) 97 g of white bread
  • -

    Almond meal: 60 g almonds +97 g bread

  • -

    Parboiled rice meal: 68 g cheese and 14 g butter +60 g parboiled rice

  • -

    Mashed potato meal: 62 g cheese and 16 g butter +68 g mashed potatoes

 Almonds decrease postprandial glycaemia and insulinaemia. Almonds are likely to decrease oxidative damage to serum proteins by decreasing glycaemic excursion and providing antioxidants.
Josse, A.R.; et al. (2007) [70] 9 (7/2) Healthy subjects (27.8±6.9) Almonds (crossover dose-response study) White bread
  • -

    White bread +30 g almonds

  • -

    White bread +60 g almonds

  • -

    White bread +90 g almonds

 The 90-g almond meal resulted in a significantly lower GI than the white bread control meal
Mori, A.M.; et al. (2011) [71] 14 (8/6) IGT (39.3 ± 10.9) Almonds (crossover) 75 g of available CHO (No almonds)
75 g of available CHO from:
  • -
    Whole almonds
  • -
    Almond butter
  • -
    Defatted almond flour
  • -
    Almond oil
 Whole almonds significantly attenuated second-meal and daylong blood glucose IAUC. GLP-1 concentrations did not significantly vary between treatments.
Kendall, C.W.; et al. (2011) [74] 10 (3/7) Ow healthy subjects (48.3 ± 6.4) Pistachios (crossover) White bread Study 1:
  • -

    28, 56 and 84 g pistachios

  • -

    28, 56 and 84 g

Study 2:
  • -

    56 g of pistachios + different commonly consumed carbohydrate foods (50 g available carbohydrate).

 Pistachios consumed alone had a minimal effect on postprandial glycaemia. Pistachios consumed with a carbohydrate meal attenuated the RGR.
Cohen, A.E. and Johnston, C.S. (2011) [72] 20 (6/14) Healthy subjects (n = 13) and T2D subjects (n = 7) (Healthy: 53.0 ± 3 and T2D: 66.0 ± 3.3) Almonds (postprandial: crossover trial) No almond meal 28 g almonds enriched meal The ingestion of almonds immediately before a starchy meal significantly reduced postprandial glycaemia by 30%.
Kendall, C.W.; et al. (2011) [78] 24 (11/13) Healthy (n = 14) and T2D subjects (n = 10) (Healthy: 36.0 ± 4 and T2D: 68.0 ± 2) Mixed nuts (i.e., almonds, macadamias, walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts and pecans) (crossover) White bread 3 doses of 30, 60 and 90 g of mixed nuts Nuts improve short-term glycaemic control in patients with T2D.
Reis, C.E.; et al. (2011) [76] 13 (4/9) Healthy subjects (28.5 ± 10) Peanuts (crossover) Cheese sandwich 63 g of:
  • -

    raw peanuts with skin

  • -

    roasted peanuts without skin

  • -

    ground-roasted peanuts without skin

 The ingestion of ground-roasted peanuts without skin for breakfast leads to a lower CHO intake and reduced postprandial glycaemic response.
Moreira, A.P.; et al. (2014) [77] 65 men Ow/Ob (Range: 18–50) Conventional peanuts and high-oleic peanuts (parallel) 56 g biscuit
  • -

    56 g conventional peanuts (n = 21)

  • -

    56 g high-oleic peanuts (n = 23)

 Conventional peanut consumption was associated with decreased postprandial insulinaemia, which might be beneficial for saving β-cell function, independently of the influence on LPS concentrations.
Kendall, C.W.; et al. (2014) [75] 20 (8/12) Subjects with MetS (54.0 ± 8) Pistachios (crossover) Control 1: white bread
Control 2: (white bread + butter + cheese)		 Test meal 1: WB + 85 g of pistachios
Test meal 2: 85 g of pistachios		 Pistachio consumption reduced postprandial glycaemia compared with white bread. Pistachio consumption increased GLP-1 levels compared with white bread.
Crouch, M.A. and Slater, R.T. (2016) [73] 20 (13/7) Subjects with pre-diabetes * (Mean: 60.8) Almonds (crossover) No almonds 12 units of dry-roasted almonds A low-calorie almond preload “appetizer” decreased postprandial hyperglycemia.

Age is shown as mean ± SD unless otherwise stated. BMI, body mass index; CHO, carbohydrate; GLP-1, glucagon-like peptide-1; HbA1c, glycated hemoglobin; IAUC, incremental area under the curve; IGT, impaired glucose tolerance; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; MetS, metabolic syndrome; M/F, male/female; Ob, obese; Ow, overweight; RGR, relative glycaemic responses; T2D, type 2 diabetes; WB, white bread. * also include “isolated 1-h glucose > 160 mg/dL”.