Snacking, Satiety, and Weight: A Randomized, Controlled Trial.

PURPOSE: To compare the effects of nut-based snack bars (NBSB) vs. prepackaged 200-kcal portions of typical conventional snack foods, when consumed over a 12-week period by a group of overweight adults. DESIGN: Randomized, single-blind parallel design with two treatment groups. SUBJECTS: Thirty-four overweight participants were enrolled. INTERVENTION: Commercially available NBSB or conventional snack foods as part of an ad libitum diet for 12 weeks. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: body mass index, body weight, body composition, waist circumference. SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: blood pressure, lipid profile, nutrients intake, hunger/satiety, quality of life. ANALYSIS: Generalized linear models with time as repeated measure were used to analyze these data. RESULTS: Daily consumption of NBSB for 12 weeks, as compared to daily consumption of conventional snacks, significantly reduced percentage body fat (-1.7% ± 10.8% vs. 6.2% ± 9.3%; p = .04) and visceral fat (-1.3 ± 5.9 vs. 2.7 ± 4.0; p = .03). There were no between-group differences (p > .05) for blood pressure, lipid panel, satiety, or quality of life measures. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that daily consumption of NBSB for 12 weeks reduced body fat and had no adverse effects on weight, blood pressure, lipid profile, satiety, or quality of life in this small sample of overweight adults.

Effects of egg ingestion on endothelial function in adults with coronary artery disease: a randomized, controlled, crossover trial.

BACKGROUND: Prevailing recommendations call for restricting intake of dietary cholesterol and eggs for those at risk of heart disease, despite accumulating evidence challenging this association. Our prior studies showed no short-term adverse effects of daily egg intake on cardiac risk factors in at-risk adults. OBJECTIVE: We conducted this study to determine effects of daily egg consumption in adults with established coronary artery disease (CAD). METHODS: Randomized, controlled, single-blind, crossover trial of 32 adults (mean age, 67 years; 6 women, 26 men) with CAD assigned to 1 of 6 possible sequence permutations of 3 different treatments (breakfast with 2 eggs, breakfast with ½ cup Egg Beaters, ConAgra Foods, St. Louis, MO, or a high-carbohydrate breakfast part of an ad libitum diet) for 6 weeks, with 4-week washout periods. The primary outcome measure was endothelial function measured as flow-mediated dilatation. RESULTS: Compared with the control breakfast (ie, high-carbohydrate breakfast), daily consumption of eggs showed no adverse effects on flow-mediated dilatation (7.2% ± 2.9% vs 7.5% ± 2.9%, P = .33), lipids (total cholesterol: 158.3 ± 28.6 mg/dL vs 156.2 ± 27.4 mg/dL, P = .49), blood pressure (systolic blood pressure: 132.8 ± 14.1 mm Hg or vs 135.5 ± 14.9 mm Hg, P = .52; diastolic blood pressure: 77.2 ± 6.1 mm Hg vs 76.7 ± 6.9 mm Hg, P = .86), or body weight (90.8 ± 17.5 kg vs 91.8 ± 17.1 kg, P = .92). No outcomes differed (P > .05) between eggs and Egg Beaters. CONCLUSIONS: We found no evidence of adverse effects of daily egg ingestion on any cardiac risk factors in adults with CAD over a span of 6 weeks.

Testing the effectiveness of an abbreviated version of the Nutrition Detectives program.

INTRODUCTION: Obese or overweight children have an increased risk for chronic diseases. Targeting diet and exercise in schools could help prevent childhood obesity. We have previously shown the effectiveness of a 90-minute nutrition program in improving elementary school students' food-label literacy. The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a 45-minute version of the program. METHODS: We conducted a pre-post study in a public school district, with no control group. We provided teacher training and program materials. Participants were 5th-grade students in 5 schools who had parental consent and were willing to take part. We condensed the program to a 45-minute lesson with a presentation and hands-on activity. The lesson showed students why and how to make healthful food choices based on Nutrition Facts panels and ingredient lists. The district's physical education teachers taught the lesson. The primary outcome measure was food-label literacy (ie, the ability to distinguish between more and less healthful foods using a validated test instrument with Nutrition Facts panels and ingredient lists). RESULTS: A total of 212 students completed pre-post measures. Following program delivery, we observed a significant gain of 16.2 percentage points in scores overall, ranging from 4.3 percentage points to 23.6 percentage points among schools. Results were similar to those achieved with the 90-minute program. DISCUSSION: The condensed nutrition program improved students' food-label literacy while requiring a minimal allocation of time. Further studies in other school districts would be useful.

Effects of walnuts on endothelial function in overweight adults with visceral obesity: a randomized, controlled, crossover trial.

OBJECTIVES: Metabolic syndrome is a precursor of diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Walnut ingestion has been shown to reduce CVD risk indices in diabetes. This randomized controlled crossover trial was performed to investigate the effects of daily walnut consumption on endothelial function and other biomarkers of cardiac risk in a population of overweight individuals with visceral adiposity. METHODS: Forty-six overweight adults (average age, 57.4 years; 28 women, 18 men) with elevated waist circumference and 1 or more additional signs of metabolic syndrome were randomly assigned to two 8-week sequences of walnut-enriched ad libitum diet and ad libitum diet without walnuts, which were separated by a 4-week washout period. The primary outcome measure was the change in flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) of the brachial artery. Secondary measures included serum lipid panel, fasting glucose and insulin, Homeostasis Model Assessment-Insulin Resistance values, blood pressure, and anthropometric measures. RESULTS: FMD improved significantly from baseline when subjects consumed a walnut-enriched diet as compared with the control diet (1.4% ± 2.4% versus 0.3% ± 1.5%; p = 0.019). Beneficial trends in systolic blood pressure reduction were seen, and maintenance of the baseline anthropometric values was also observed. Other measures were unaltered. CONCLUSION: Daily ingestion of 56 g of walnuts improves endothelial function in overweight adults with visceral adiposity. The addition of walnuts to the diet does not lead to weight gain. Further study of the potential role of walnut intake in diabetes and CVD prevention is warranted.