Acute Consumption of Pecan-enriched Meal

Comparison of Metabolic and Antioxidant Responses to a Breakfast Meal With and Without Pecans

Pecans are a nutrient-dense food, but it is unknown whether substituting pecans for a portion of the butter in a traditional breakfast meal improves post-meal responses.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Healthy
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Control; Other: Pecan

Detailed Description

This study was a randomized, double-blind control trial consisting of 2 study visits for 2 different treatments. The treatments were high-fat breakfast muffins containing either butter (control) or pecans. The investigators recruited healthy, normal-weight adults between the ages of 15 and 45y. Study visits were completed in a random order with at least 72 hours between each visit. Anthropometrics, questionnaires, and fasting and postprandial blood samples were collected at each visit.

Hypothesis: The pecan-enriched meal will blunt the post-meal increase in glucose, insulin, triglycerides (TG), and lipid peroxidation while improving all measures of subjective appetite and TAC compared to the traditional meal without nuts.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 24
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Georgia
    • Athens, Georgia, United States, 30602
      • University of Georgia - Department of Foods and Nutrition & Department of Food Science and Technology

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 45 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy adult men and women
• Normal-weight (body mass index = 18-24.9kg/m2)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Allergies to test meal ingredients (gluten, eggs, or nuts)
• Medication/supplement usage
• Chronic disease
• Pregnancy or plans to become pregnant
• Special diets
• Tobacco use

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Control; Participants in this group received a traditional muffin with butter as the predominant source of fat.	Other: Control; Participants in this group received a traditional muffin with butter as the predominant source of fat.
Experimental: Pecan; Participants in this group received a muffin in which part of the butter was substituted out for pecans.	Other: Pecan; Participants in this group received a muffin in which part of the butter was substituted out for pecans.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in lipid peroxidation	Malondialdehyde (MDA) (uM) measured via Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay	Change from baseline to 3 hours postprandially
Change in total antioxidant capacity	Total antioxidant capacity (uM trolox equivalents) measured via Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) assay.	Change from baseline to 3 hours postprandially
Change in insulin	Insulin (uU/mL)	Change from baseline to 3 hours postprandially
Change in triglycerides (TG) and glucose	TG (mg/dL) and glucose (mg/dL)	Change from baseline to 3 hours postprandially

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in angiopoietin-like proteins-3 (ANGPTL3) and -4 (ANGPTL4) responses	ANGPTL3 (pg/mL) and ANGPTL4 (pg/mL)	Change from baseline to 3 hours postprandially
Change in hunger and satiety responses	Hunger, fullness, prospective consumption, and desire to eat measured via a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) (mm). The range of scores on the continuous VAS is 0-100 mm. Zero represents no hunger, fullness, prospective consumption, and desire to eat, while 100 represents the greatest feeling of these outcomes.	Change from baseline to 3 hours postprandially

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Georgia
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Chad M Paton, PhD, University of Georgia

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 10, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): February 27, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): February 27, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 7, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 13, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): April 20, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 20, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 13, 2021
• Last Verified: April 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: AWD00008790

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No