Effect of nuts on components of metabolic syndrome in healthy adults with overweight/obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Effects of Nut Consumption on Blood Lipids and Lipoproteins: A Comprehensive Literature Update

“…Inconsistent findings were reported in three meta-analyses examining lipid/lipoprotein effect modification by doses of tree nuts and peanuts or tree nuts only [ 11 , 16 , 21 ]. A meta-analysis including studies involving patients with type 2 diabetes showed that higher tree nut and peanut consumption (≥45 g/d) lowered TC and LDL-C significantly, whereas lower consumption was not associated with TC and LDL-C lowering [ 11 ].…”

“…Numerous systematic reviews and meta-analyses of RCTs that evaluated nut consumption on blood lipid biomarkers have been published [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]. Table 1 summarizes 19 selected studies.…”

“…Table 1 summarizes 19 selected studies. Three focused on interventions of both nuts and peanuts together [ 11 , 12 , 21 ], three were on tree nuts [ 16 , 18 , 22 ], five on almonds [ 13 , 15 , 19 , 25 , 29 ], four on walnuts [ 17 , 23 , 24 , 26 ], two on cashews [ 20 , 28 ], one on pistachios [ 27 ] and one on peanuts including peanut butter [ 14 ]. The doses tested varied from 5 to 200 g/d and the study durations were from 4 days to 2 years.…”

“…In 11 of the 19 included meta-analyses, subgroup analyses were conducted to examine the effect of higher vs. lower consumption of nuts on lipid/lipoprotein levels [ 11 , 13 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 19 , 21 , 23 , 25 , 26 , 29 ]. The highest consumption category was >63 g/d in one meta-analysis [ 26 ], ≥50 g/d in five meta-analyses [ 13 , 15 , 16 , 21 , 29 ], ≥45g/d in two meta-analyses [ 11 , 25 ], >42.5 g/d in one meta-analysis [ 19 ], ≥42 g/d in one meta-analysis [ 17 ], and ≥28 g/d in one meta-analysis [ 23 ]. In a meta-analysis of studies on healthy individuals, the consumption of ≥45 g/d of almonds lowered TC, LDL-C, and TG to a greater extent than <45 g/d [ 25 ].…”

“…A meta-analysis including studies involving patients with type 2 diabetes showed that higher tree nut and peanut consumption (≥45 g/d) lowered TC and LDL-C significantly, whereas lower consumption was not associated with TC and LDL-C lowering [ 11 ]. In contrast, in a meta-analysis of 11 studies including participants with overweight/obesity, no difference in lipid responses by peanut and tree nut dose (≥50 g/d vs. <50g/d) was observed [ 21 ]. In a meta-analysis of studies conducted in participants that were healthy or had dyslipidemia, metabolic syndrome, or type 2 diabetes, TGs were reduced with a higher intake of tree nuts (≥50g/d); HDL-C findings were not different by the dose consumed and LDL-C and TC were not assessed [ 16 ].…”