Eating Over 60g Of Almonds A Day May Protect Dna And Cut Oxidative Damage

Scientists opportunity high-dose almond intake could thief shield your cells from oxidative harm while enhancing your body’s earthy defense systems, but nan benefits dangle connected nan dose and really nan nuts are prepared.

Study: The effect of almond supplementation connected oxidative accent biomarkers: a systematic reappraisal and meta-analysis of randomized power trials. Image Credit: shine.graphics / Shutterstock

In a caller systematic reappraisal published successful nan journal Scientific Reports, researchers collated, synthesized, and meta-analyzed nan results of 8 objective tests to validate and elucidate nan impacts of almond supplementation successful adults.

Review findings uncover a dose-dependent narration wherein consuming complete 60 grams (g) of almonds regular was observed to importantly trim definite markers of cellular harm (notably MDA and 8-OHdG) and, successful immoderate analyses, amended nan body's antioxidant enzymes (SOD overall, though not importantly successful nan >60 g/day subgroup).

These results support nan domiciled of almonds arsenic a imaginable functional nutrient for managing oxidative stress, though nan authors stress that much standardized tests are needed earlier considering nationalist wellness argumentation recommendations, peculiarly fixed nan precocious variability successful results and nan power of factors specified arsenic almond preparation, baseline oxidative accent status, and subordinate characteristics.

Background

Cells are nether changeless onslaught from reactive oxygen type (ROS), unstable molecules that are known to harm lipids, proteins, and moreover DNA, resulting successful mutations and associated diseases. Oxidative accent is an imbalance betwixt these damaging free radicals and nan body's antioxidant defences, exacerbated by biology contamination and mediocre behavioral choices (e.g., suboptimal diets and smoking).

Over time, this ROS-mediated cellular harm accumulates and has been identified arsenic a starring origin of chronic conditions, including cardiovascular illness (CVD), diabetes, cancers, and neurodegenerative disorders.

Current oxidative accent investigations impact nan estimation of biomarkers for illustration malondialdehyde (MDA) for lipid damage, 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) for DNA damage, and antioxidant enzymes for illustration superoxide dismutase (SOD) arsenic grounds for diligent antioxidant performance. Despite these surveillance and diagnostic techniques, nan world load of oxidative accent continues to rise.

Almonds (specifically, nan fruits of nan Prunus amygdalus aliases Prunus dulcis tree) are rich | successful protective antioxidant compounds, including vitamin E, polyphenols, and patient monounsaturated fats, making them a promising dietary instrumentality to combat oxidative stress. While erstwhile studies person been encouraging, their constricted sample sizes made findings confounding and ungeneralizable, requiring a broad study to consolidate their cumulative evidence.

About nan review

The coming systematic reappraisal addresses this knowledge spread by collating and reanalyzing information from respective randomized controlled tests (RCTs) aimed astatine quantifying nan effect of almond depletion connected oxidative stress. The reappraisal followed nan Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

The broad lit hunt comprised a civilization keyword hunt of respective online technological repositories, including Scopus, PubMed/Medline, and nan Web of Science from database initiation till January 2025. A two-phase screening process was employed to place only publications examining adults (≥ 18 years), wherever almond supplementation of immoderate shape was nan intervention, and outcomes were reported utilizing oxidation position biomarkers. Any RCTs aliases crossover tests gathering these criteria were included successful consequent analyses.

Extracted information included estimates of cardinal biomarkers, and analyses leveraged a random-effects exemplary to excavation nan results and cipher nan weighted mean quality (WMD; wide effect). Crucially, subgroup study was conducted to find if nan dose of almonds, specifically, little than aliases much than 60 grams daily, influenced observed outcomes.

Review findings

Title, abstract, and afloat matter screening identified 8 high-quality tests (five parallel RCTs and 3 crossover trials) that met inclusion criteria (n = 424 participants). Summary statistic revealed that nan included study populations were diverse, including patient individuals, smokers, and patients pinch chronic diseases. The almond interventions varied successful dose, ranging from 5 to 168 grams daily, and lasted betwixt 4 and 24 weeks.

Meta-analysis outcomes revealed that nan antioxidant effects of almonds are partially dose dependent. While little doses showed minimal impact, supplementation pinch 60 grams aliases much regular (~2 ample handfuls) produced important improvements successful circumstantial cardinal biomarkers, peculiarly those suggestive of cellular harm (MDA and 8-OHdG).

Levels of MDA, a merchandise of lipid peroxidation, were reduced by a weighted mean quality of -0.46 (p = 0.002) successful nan high-dose subgroup, and 8-OHdG, a marker of oxidative DNA damage, was lowered by -5.83 (p < 0.001). In addition, nan body's endogenous antioxidant defenses were observed to beryllium improved overall, pinch SOD activity expanding by 2.02 (p = 0.008) successful nan pooled analysis, though nan >60 g/day subgroup did not scope statistical significance.

Almond depletion besides led to a mini but important simplification successful uric acerb levels (WMD = -0.64, p = 0.009), which nan authors propose whitethorn beryllium related to inhibition of xanthine oxidase activity, a cardinal root of uric acerb and reactive oxygen species. Its effect connected glutathione peroxidase (GPx) was not statistically significant. Notably, heterogeneity evaluations established a precocious grade of variability crossed nan studies for immoderate outcomes (I² > 90%), implying that differences successful study design, almond mentation (raw vs. roasted, blanched vs. unblanched), nonaccomplishment of polyphenols from tegument removal, imaginable familial variability successful antioxidant enzyme responses, and interactions betwixt almond fibre and polyphenols influencing gut microbiota and systemic oxidative position apt contributed to inconsistent results.

Conclusions

This systematic reappraisal and meta-analysis supply grounds that almond supplementation tin thief negociate oxidative stress, peculiarly for immoderate biomarkers, and that benefits for MDA whitethorn beryllium much evident astatine doses higher than 60 grams per day. Not each biomarkers responded successful a dose-dependent manner, and SOD improvements were observed wide but not importantly successful nan high-dose subgroup.

These findings support nan classification of almonds arsenic a imaginable functional food. Still, nan precocious variability betwixt studies highlights a captious request for early research. The authors telephone for much standardized tests to pinpoint almonds' optimal dosage, duration, and shape to maximize their antioxidant benefits, ideally utilizing accordant almond mentation methods and stratifying participants by baseline oxidative accent levels to amended target populations astir apt to benefit.