The Acute and Accumulative Effects of Snack Foods on Exercise Recovery

The Acute and Accumulative Effects of Almonds on Exercise Recovery

The purpose of the research is two-fold. One goal is to determine if post-exercise almond or cereal bar consumption can promote muscle gain as well as increasing muscular strength throughout an eight-week weight training program. The other goal is to assess the short-term effects of almonds or cereal bar on recovery that may explain the overall long-term adaptations.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Muscle Strength
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Cereal Bar as a recovery food snack; Other: Almond

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 60
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Mark Kern, PhD, RD; Phone Number: 619-594-1834; Email: kern@sdsu.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• BMIs of 18.5-30 kg/m2
• participate in no more than 3 hours of structured exercise per week

Exclusion Criteria:

• weight training more than 30 min/week,
• smoking,
• use of medications known to impact inflammation,
• musculoskeletal limitations,
• use of supplements within 1 month of participation that are known to impact body composition, antioxidant or inflammatory status,
• regular consumption of more than 2 servings of nuts per week,
• unwillingness to refrain from recovery treatments during the study such as hydrotherapy, massage, stretching, compression garments, anti-inflammatory medications and topical applications.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Cereal bar arm; weight lifting exercise and post-exercise cereal bar consumption	Other: Cereal Bar as a recovery food snack; Cereal bar as a recovery snack food
Experimental: Almond arm; weight lifting exercise and post-exercise almond consumption	Other: Almond; Almond as a recovery snack food

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
delayed onset of muscle soreness	measuring delayed onset of muscle soreness using visual analogue scale (VAS)	baseline, 24 hour, 48 hour, and 72 hour after baseline
markers of muscle damage	Blood markers of muscle damage (creatine kinase (u/L))	Baseline, 24 hour, 48 hour and 72 hour after baseline
changes in strength	muscle cross-sectional area of the calf via peripheral quantitative computerized tomography (pQCT)	Baseline and 8 weeks
changes in body composition	measuring body composition by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA)	Baseline and 8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: San Diego State University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Mark Kern, PhD, RD, San Diego State University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): June 1, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): January 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 2, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 9, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): April 12, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 12, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 9, 2024
• Last Verified: April 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 2023-1353

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