Study: almonds can replace breakfast

The 2018-08-28 web

According to the daily mail of August 24, eating almonds has been shown to replace breakfast. Those students who skipped breakfast had better blood sugar levels if they ate nuts in the morning.

Dr Rudy Ortiz, from the university of California, merced, who led the study, said: "this study was done on college students and almonds were a good snack choice for people who didn't eat breakfast."

Almonds contain healthy amounts of fat, protein, vitamin E, and magnesium. Eating nuts can lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, reduce hunger and reduce weight gain.

How was the study conducted

The researchers studied 73 college freshmen who regularly skipped breakfast. Between 20 percent and 43 percent of college students skip breakfast, and about 63 percent say they never, rarely or only eat breakfast two to four times a week.

The students were divided into two groups, 30 of whom ate 56 grams of almonds per day for eight weeks, a total of 320 calories. The remaining 35 ate five graham crackers a day for 338 calories.

All participants were asked to keep their diet and exercise routine the same and eat at 11 a.m. From Monday to Friday, researchers monitored the students to make sure they ate designated snacks and reminded them to text report on fridays and holidays.

At the start of the study, as well as four and eight weeks later, the researchers took plasma samples and weighed the participants.

Almonds are a 'great potential snack'

The results, published in the journal nutrition, showed that those who ate almonds had lower blood sugar levels and a 34% lower insulin resistance rate two hours later than those who ate biscuits. Insulin antibodies are produced when a person's cells stop responding to hormones, an early sign of diabetes.

While students who ate almonds and crackers gained an average of 1.7 pounds (0.8 kilograms) in the study, previous studies have shown that it's normal to gain 2.2 pounds to 6.6 pounds (1-3 kilograms) when people start college.

The students in the study found that eating almonds every day was more attractive than eating cookies. "" this suggests that eating nutritious snacks is more popular than typical carbohydrate snacks," "the researchers said.

Dr Ortiz concluded: "the effects of almonds on several health parameters show their potential as a snack, particularly among students." The researchers believe almonds were more beneficial to people with high blood pressure or larger waistlines.