Location: Obesity and Metabolism Research
Project Number: 2032-51530-025-016-T
Project Type: Trust Fund Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Nov 1, 2018
End Date: Jul 31, 2022
Objective:
Determine if regular almond consumption, as a snack, increases satiety compared to the control snack using an acute meal challenge protocol in the laboratory and also monitoring food intake and satiety in a free-living, natural setting.
Approach:
A randomized, parallel arm trial will be conducted to determine if consumption of almonds, as a snack, will lead to improved satiety as determined by self-reported hunger, satiety, and food cravings along with measures of hormones and metabolites recognized as important effectors of food intake, including the newly emerging role of the endocannabinoid system. The study will be conducted in 72 pre-menopausal women, overweight, mildly or moderately obese, who will be randomly assigned to one of two interventions: almond snacks or control snacks. The snack intervention period will be 4 weeks in duration; the almond snack will consist of roasted almonds, 56 g/d; the control snack will be a cereal-pretzel mix of equal calorie content. Adherence to the almond snack intervention will be determined by measuring plasma vitamin E levels and by participant self-report. Outcome measurements will include body height, weight, total body water, lean mass, fat mass and distribution of mass, metabolic rate, satiety hormones (insulin, leptin, ghrelin, endocannabinoid profiles, CCK, GLP-1, PYY) measured in the fasted and postprandial states. A satiety protocol will be conducted at the end of the intervention period to assess these variables, using standard meals and snack (almonds or control), followed by a dinner meal to determine self-selected food intake from a mixed entree, salad, and dessert offered in moderate excess of caloric need. Satiety will also be monitored in a more natural setting by having participants keep food intake records on selected days and recording hunger and satiety at specified times during those days. Questionnaires will be administered to document food cravings, chronic stress levels, and eating behavior characteristics. Finally, we will include measurements of SNPs common to obesity and known to influence satiety. All outcome measures will be used to develop a general satiety model as well as a model unique to almond consumption.
