The Ability of Pecan Consumption to Improve Vascular Function and Reduce Chronic Disease Risk in Aging Adults

University of Georgia (UGA)

Status

Completed

Conditions

Aging

Treatments

Dietary Supplement: PECAN

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT04385537

PROJECT00001978

Details and patient eligibility

About

Background: To date, there are no published studies on the effects of pecans on vascular function following a high-fat meal.

Purpose: To examine the impact of daily pecan consumption for a 4-week period on vascular health and other markers of cardiovascular disease risk in aging adults.

Full description

This will be a randomized, controlled trial in men and postmenopausal women (50-75y). Subjects will be randomized into one of the two study groups: a control group (CON) following their usual diet, or intervention group (PECAN) following their usual diet but also consuming 68g/day of pecans as a snack.

There will be 3 visits: A Screening visit and a baseline and post-diet intervention visit (4-weeks). Anthropometrics, questionnaires, a fasting blood sample, and fasting vascular measures will be collected at each visit. Subjects will participate in a saturated fatty acid meal challenge in which additional blood, vascular measurements will be collected.

Hypothesis: Daily pecan consumption will result in improved fasting blood lipids, vascular measures, antioxidant status, and appetite compared to the control group. Additionally, also the PECAN group will result in improved postprandial blood lipids and vascular measures compared to the control group.

Enrollment

50 patients

Sex

All

Ages

50 to 75 years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Men and postmenopausal women (without menses for 1 yr and follicle stimulating hormone > 30 IU/mL) between the ages of 50-75y
Body mass indexes (BMI) between 18-34.9kg/m2

Exclusion criteria

Nut consumption >2 servings/week or tree nut butter consumption >3 servings/week
Pre-menopausal and menopausal women, hormone replacement therapy if less than 2 years
Regularly exercise more than 3 h/week
Weight gain or loss more than 5% of their body weight in the past 3 months
Plans to begin a weight loss/exercise regimen during the trial
Gastrointestinal surgeries, conditions or disorders
History of medical or surgical events that could affect swallowing
Chronic or metabolic diseases
Previous MI, stroke, or cancer
Fasting blood glucose levels greater than 126 mg/dL
Blood pressure greater than 180/120 mmHg
Medication use affecting digestion and absorption, metabolism
Lipid-lowering medications
Medications for diabetes, depression, or ADD/ADHD
Regular use of medications known to affect endothelial function or blood vessel tone
Blood pressure medication and steroid/hormone therapies
Individuals on a medically prescribed or special diet
Individuals with food allergies to foods specifically in the study
Excessively use alcohol (greater than 3 drinks/d for men; greater than 2 drinks/d for women)
Tobacco or nicotine use
Individuals taking fish oil and omega-3 fatty acid supplements
Significant head trauma or brain surgery
A score >26 on the Beck's Depression Inventory II (BDI-II)
A score <24 on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) will be excluded.