A group of Toronto researchers with a new study that indicates that nuts help reduce insulin spikes (if you want to know why this is important in this context, check out this post).
UPDATE - as several commenters to this post point out, things are not quite that straight-forward. OK, we may like nuts but this study does not look well designed. Comparing the effect of almonds to the effect of muffins seems a bit confused!
Effect of almonds on insulin secretion and insulin resistance in nondiabetic hyperlipidemic subjects: a randomized controlled crossover trial.
Nuts appear to have a marked effect in cohort studies in reducing the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), but their demonstrated ability to lower cholesterol can only explain a proportion of the reduction in risk. Our aim was to assess whether improvement in carbohydrate metabolism provides a further explanation for the effect of nuts in reducing CHD. The effects of whole almonds, taken as snacks, were compared with the effects of low saturated fat (<5% energy) whole-wheat muffins (control) in the therapeutic diets of hyperlipidemic subjects. In a randomized crossover study, 27 hyperlipidemic men and women consumed 3 isoenergetic (mean, 423 kcal/d) supplements each for 1 month. Supplements provided 22.2% of energy and consisted of full-dose almonds (73 +/- 3 g/d), half-dose almonds plus half-dose muffins, and full-dose muffins. Subjects were assessed at weeks 0, 2, and 4 and fasting blood samples were obtained. Twenty-four-hour urinary output was collected at the end of week 4 on each treatment. Mean body weights differed by less than 300 g between treatments. No differences were seen in baseline or treatment values for fasting glucose, insulin, C-peptide, or insulin resistance as measured by homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance. However, 24-hour urinary C-peptide output as a marker of 24-hour insulin secretion was significantly reduced on the half-and full-dose almonds by comparison to the control after adjustment for urinary creatinine output (P = .002 and P = .004, respectively). We conclude that reductions in 24-hour insulin secretion appear to be a further metabolic advantage of nuts that in the longer term may help to explain the association of nut consumption with reduced CHD risk
UPDATE - as several commenters to this post point out, things are not quite that straight-forward. OK, we may like nuts but this study does not look well designed. Comparing the effect of almonds to the effect of muffins seems a bit confused!
Effect of almonds on insulin secretion and insulin resistance in nondiabetic hyperlipidemic subjects: a randomized controlled crossover trial.
Nuts appear to have a marked effect in cohort studies in reducing the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), but their demonstrated ability to lower cholesterol can only explain a proportion of the reduction in risk. Our aim was to assess whether improvement in carbohydrate metabolism provides a further explanation for the effect of nuts in reducing CHD. The effects of whole almonds, taken as snacks, were compared with the effects of low saturated fat (<5% energy) whole-wheat muffins (control) in the therapeutic diets of hyperlipidemic subjects. In a randomized crossover study, 27 hyperlipidemic men and women consumed 3 isoenergetic (mean, 423 kcal/d) supplements each for 1 month. Supplements provided 22.2% of energy and consisted of full-dose almonds (73 +/- 3 g/d), half-dose almonds plus half-dose muffins, and full-dose muffins. Subjects were assessed at weeks 0, 2, and 4 and fasting blood samples were obtained. Twenty-four-hour urinary output was collected at the end of week 4 on each treatment. Mean body weights differed by less than 300 g between treatments. No differences were seen in baseline or treatment values for fasting glucose, insulin, C-peptide, or insulin resistance as measured by homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance. However, 24-hour urinary C-peptide output as a marker of 24-hour insulin secretion was significantly reduced on the half-and full-dose almonds by comparison to the control after adjustment for urinary creatinine output (P = .002 and P = .004, respectively). We conclude that reductions in 24-hour insulin secretion appear to be a further metabolic advantage of nuts that in the longer term may help to explain the association of nut consumption with reduced CHD risk
Comments
I don't need to read PubMed any more... just gonna steal your finds... YOU I-N-S-P-I-R-E !
-G
Stephan - good point - must admit that the muffins made me smile.....
I've actually made banana nut muffins with no flour, no sugar, and lots of saturated fat. I use nut flour and coconut flour. They're delicious, and they can beat up those wimpy low saturated fat whole-wheat muffins any day.
Food Is Love
But they didn't consider the effect of nuts here they studied the effect of almonds versus a muffin. This tells me a little about higher fat and protein snacks versus sugary low fat processed snacks, it wasn't designed properly to say anything in particular about nuts except as a direct comparison to muffins. argh!
It is easy to agree with the message but the study is so so frustrating.
The exciting results have been leaked to the press:
"Insulin secretion was significantly reduced on the half-and full-dose muffins by comparison to the control."
The researchers were confident that the whole grain and low saturated fat content of the muffins was "statistically significant" in contributing to the effect.
They are now awaiting grant money for a new study to confirm their foregone conclusions about the health benefits of whole grains and low saturated fat in the diet.