News & Views Research Suggests Almonds May Help Maintain
Healthy Blood Glucose Levels Almonds have long been considered a tasty, nutritious snack and the latest research adds even more reason to include almonds as part of a healthy eating plan, including for people with diabetes or prediabetes.
Most recently, in a study that was published in Metabolism: Clinical and Experimental by Li et al. (2011), it was demonstrated that incorporating almonds into a diet designed using the U.S. National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) step II dietary guidelines, which recommend less than seven per cent daily calories be from saturated fat and less than 200mg cholesterol daily,1
improved glycaemic
control and lipid profiles in Chinese patients with Type 2 diabetes.2
Similar
to the U.S. NCEP guidelines, the European Food Safety Authority recommends that saturated fat intake be as low as possible.
This study by Li et al. (2011),2 as
well as other recently published studies, demonstrate that a healthy diet that includes almonds everyday can improve glycaemic (or blood glucose) control.3,4,5
In the UK, 2.8 million people
have been diagnosed with diabetes.6 Participants were recruited from
the Endocrine Clinic of the Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taiwan. In this randomised crossover trial, 22 patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus were assigned to follow either the control NCEP step II diet or an almond diet wherein 20 per cent of the daily total calories were supplied by almonds. Each four-week treatment period was preceded by a two week run-in period. The almond diet was prepared by incorporating roasted, unsalted whole almonds into main courses, desserts or snacks to replace 20 per cent of the calories from the NCEP step II diet. On average, participants consumed 56g of almonds per day. The meals for each patient were prepared by the metabolic kitchen of the Taipei Medical University Hospital; calorie adjustments were made as needed to maintain body weight within 2kg of each patient’s initial weight. Compared to the control NCEP step II diet, the almond diet significantly decreased percentage body fat, fasting insulin and glucose
levels, as well as total cholesterol (TC) levels, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) ‘bad’ cholesterol levels and the ratio of LDL-cholesterol (‘bad’) to HDL- cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein) ‘good’ cholesterol.2
The results from this study support
the findings of a similar study, larger in scope, published by Wien et al. (2010) in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition (JACN) in June 2010. Data from the JACN study suggested that consuming an almond-enriched diet that meets the guidelines of the American Diabetes Association may help those with prediabetes improve insulin sensitivity and achieve a healthier blood lipid profile.5
In the parallel group study by
Wien et al. (2010), 65 subjects with prediabetes were randomly allocated to follow, for 16 weeks, a modestly energy-restricted diet (consistent with the guidelines of the American Diabetes Association) with or without almonds. In the almond diet group, almonds provided approximately 20 per cent of the total daily energy intake, equivalent to about 60g of almonds per day. Compared to the group consuming the nut-free diet, the group that consumed an almond- enriched diet had clinically and statistically significant improvements in fasting insulin levels and in measures of insulin sensitivity and clinically and nearly statistically significant improvements in fasting haemoglobin A1c (P=0.070), TC (P=0.088), LDL- cholesterol (P=0.052), and the ratio of TC to HDL-cholesterol (P=0.055).
“This new research suggesting that
incorporating almonds into a healthy diet might help improve insulin sensitivity and maintain healthy LDL cholesterol levels is encouraging,” says Johanna Hignett, Dietitian. “While further research is needed to confirm this relationship, it is especially helpful to understand that almond consumption might be beneficial in the early, or prediabetes, stage.”
References: 1. National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III). Third report of the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III) final report. Circulation 2002;106: 3143-421. 2. Sing-Chung Li, Yen-Hua Liu, Jen-Fang Liu, Wen-Hsin Chang, Chaio-Ming Chen, C.-Y. Oliver Chen. Almond consumption improved glycemic control and lipid profiles in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Metabolism Clinical and Experimental. 60 (2011) 474-479.3. Mattes RA, et al, 2011. Acute and second-meal effects of almond form in impaired glucose tolerant adults. Nutr Metab. 2011; 8(1):6. 4. Cohen AE, et al. Almond ingestion at mealtime reduces postprandial glycemia and chronic ingestion reduces hemoglobin A(1c) in individuals with well- controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus. Metabolism. 2011 Sep;60(9):1312-7. 5. Wien M, et al. Almond consumption and cardiovascular risk factors in adults with prediabetes. J Am Coll Nutr. 2010 Jun;29(3):189-97.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Wien%20M%2C%20Almond%20consumption%20and%20cardiovascular%20ri sk%20factors%20in%20adults%20with%20prediabetes. 6. Diabetes UK. Diabetes Prevalence 2010.
www.diabetes.org.uk.
Government’s ‘Responsibility Deal’ rebranded ‘The Irresponsibilty Deal’ Time for sticks, not just carrots says Children’s Food Campaign
Following the first anniversary of the introduction of the government's public health Responsibility Deal, and responding to an audit of progress conducted by consumer champions Which?, Malcolm Clark, Children's Food Campaign Co-ordinator, said:
“It is no surprise to us that, one year
on, the government’s flagship public health initiative has been branded as ‘inadequate’. The food industry has shown that it is either unwilling to make the changes needed to tackle diet-related health problems, or does so in only the most half-hearted of ways.
As Which?'s and our own analysis
show, many of the unhealthiest products regularly consumed by children remain just as unhealthy twelve months on. Many companies are ducking out of signing up to pledges which are relevant to them:
1) The big fast food chains are not signed up to the salt reduction pledge
• Burger King, KFC, McDonald's, Pizza Hut
2) Frozen food giants are not involved at all, in any pledges
• Birds Eye, Findus, Goodfella's Pizza
3) Major soft drinks manufacturers are not signed up to any ingredient- related pledges
• The makers of sugar-filled soft drinks such as Coca-Cola,Tango, Vimto and Irn Bru.
• Britvic – which promotes itself on the Responsibility Deal website a “the largest supplier of branded still soft drinks in UK and the number two supplier of branded carbonates”, and makes Pepsi and 7UP under license.
Furthermore, any progress companies
make in one area is immediately undermined by their huge marketing budgets pushing unhealthy food and drink to children.
By not taking a tougher stance, the
government continues to let our most prominent food manufacturers and retailers off the hook.
If this initiative is to shake off its
'Irresponsibility Deal' moniker, then the government is going to have to develop sticks to go with the carrots it is handing out.”
References: 1. The Which? media release is available at:
http://www.which.co.uk/about-which/press/press- releases/campaign-press-releases/food-and-health/2012/03/government-must-do-more-to-tackle-the-national-obesity- emergency-/ 2. Children's Food Campaign published a six month review of the Responsibility Deal in September 2011, which concluded that “the Deal is better for the food industry than for public health” and predicted that a voluntary approach would only have limited industry take-up
http://www.sustainweb.org/publications/?id=188
Winner of Amino Acid Survey Nutricia,and the team at CN Magazines,would like to thank all readers that recently completed the Nutricia-supported amino acid survey, which was circulated via email. Nutricia kindly offered to include a prize incentive of £250 of high-street shopping vouchers for a randomly-selected reader who completed the survey. We’re delighted to account that the lucky winner of this prize is Katy Conchie, Dietetic Team Leader, Kings Mill Hospital, Sutton in Ashfield.
CN CN CN
6 | CN Focus Vol.4 No.1 April 2012
What’s coming... May 2012
• Crohn’s Disease • Chronic Kidney Disease • Hydration in Schools • Case Study: Refeeding • CN Conference Guide • Nutrition in Care Homes • Paediatrics in Practice: Gastroenterology • How Modern Society Makes Us Sick
Plus much more...
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