Cited by 69Gut microbiota and healthNuts composition and effectsNutritional Studies and Diet

Almond snacking for 8 wk increases alpha-diversity of the gastrointestinal microbiome and decreases Bacteroides fragilis abundance compared with an isocaloric snack in college freshmen

Open access
Dhillon, Jaapna, Li, Zhaoping, Ortiz, Rudy M·2019·Current Developments in Nutrition

Abstract

Changes in gut microbiota are associated with cardiometabolic disorders and are influenced by diet. Almonds are a rich source of fiber, unsaturated fats, and polyphenols, all nutrients that can favorably alter the gut microbiome. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of 8 wk of almond snacking on the gut (fecal) microbiome diversity and abundance compared with an isocaloric snack of graham crackers in college freshmen. A randomized, controlled, parallel-arm, 8-wk intervention in 73 college freshmen (age: 18–19 y; 41 women and 32 men; BMI: 18–41 kg/m2) with no cardiometabolic disorders was conducted. Participants were randomly allocated to either an almond snack group (56.7 g/d; 364 kcal; n = 38) or graham cracker control group (77.5 g/d; 338 kcal/d; n = 35). Stool samples were collected at baseline and 8 wk after the intervention to assess primary microbiome outcomes, that is, gut microbiome diversity and abundance. Almond snacking resulted in 3% greater quantitative alpha-diversity (Shannon index) and 8% greater qualitative alpha-diversity (Chao1 index) than the cracker group after the intervention (P < 0.05). Moreover, almond snacking for 8 wk decreased the abundance of the pathogenic bacterium Bacteroides fragilis by 48% (overall relative abundance, P < 0.05). Permutational multivariate ANOVA showed significant time effects for the unweighted UniFrac distance and Bray–Curtis beta-diversity methods (P < 0.05; R2 ≤ 3.1%). The dietary and clinical variables that best correlated with the underlying bacterial community structure at week 8 of the intervention included dietary carbohydrate (percentage energy), dietary fiber (g), and fasting total and HDL cholesterol (model Spearman rho = 0.16; P = 0.01). Almond snacking for 8 wk improved alpha-diversity compared with cracker snacking. Incorporating a morning snack in the dietary regimen of predominantly breakfast-skipping college freshmen improved the diversity and composition of the gut microbiome. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03084003.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1093/cdn/nzz079

Cites

57 of 57 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • An 8 wk intervention with 56.7 g of almonds in young adults revealed an increase in α-diversity measures and a decrease in B. fragilis abundance.

    “On the other hand, an 8 wk intervention with 56.7 g of almonds in young adults revealed an increase in α-diversity measures and a decrease in B. fragilis abundance (62).”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Dhillon, J., Li, Z., & Ortiz, R. M.
Affiliations
  • University of California, Merced (US)
  • University of California, Los Angeles (US)
Corresponding author
Dhillon, Jaapna
Venue
Current Developments in Nutrition
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2019-08
Volume
3
Issue
8
Pages
nzz079
ISSN
2475-2991 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2955266153
Cited by
69
References
57
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 1
FWCI
2.40
Type
journal article
Language
en
Update notices
erratum (2019-08-01)
Open access
Locations
  • Current Developments in Nutrition (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Almond Board of California
  • National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (K99MD012815)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nuts composition and effects
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
Keywords
almond, gut microbiota, alpha diversity, Bacteroides fragilis, breakfast skipping, university students, dietary fiber, dietary intervention, cholesterol, cardiometabolic health, polyphenols, unsaturated fat, gut microbiota composition, beta diversity, dietary carbohydrates, HDL cholesterol

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review