Minimal changes in telomere length after a 12-week dietary intervention with almonds in mid-age to older, overweight, and obese Australians: Results of a randomised clinical trial.

Diet is a modifiable risk factor for chronic disease and a potential modulator of telomere length (TL). The study aim was to investigate associations between diet quality and TL in Australian adults after a 12-week dietary intervention with an almond-enriched diet (AED). Participants (overweight/obese, 50–80 years) were randomised to an AED (n 62) or isoenergetic nut-free […]

Almond consumption decreases android fat mass percentage in adults with high android subcutaneous adiposity but does not change HbA1c in a randomized controlled trial

The purpose of this study was to determine if the mixed evidence of almond consumption on HbA1c stems from testing people with different body fat distributions (BFD) associated with different risks of glucose intolerance. A 6-month RCT in 134 adults was conducted. Participants were randomly assigned to the almond (A) or control (C) group based […]

A Comprehensive Review of Almond Clinical Trials on Weight Measures, Metabolic Health Biomarkers and Outcomes, and the Gut Microbiota.

This comprehensive narrative review of 64 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 14 systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses provides an in-depth analysis of the effect of almonds on weight measures, metabolic health biomarkers and outcomes, and the colonic microbiota, with extensive use of figures and tables. Almonds are a higher energy-dense (ED) food that acts like a […]

Feeding high amounts of almond hulls to lactating cows.

California is the leading state for the production of almonds, with more than 400,000 bearing hectares of orchards that produced approximately 1 billion kg of shelled nuts in 2017. Almond hulls (AH) are a regional by-product feedstuff fed predominately to dairy cattle in California. A 2012 study surveyed 40 dairy farms in California and found […]

Acid hydrolysis of almond shells in a biphasic reaction system: obtaining of purified hemicellulosic monosaccharides in a single step.

The aim of this work is to comprehend the biphasic reaction systems through another perspective; the simultaneous purification and production of carbohydrates during the pretreatment of biomass. A dilute acid hydrolysis of almond shells in a 2-Methyltetrahydrofuran/H2O system was optimised to maximise the obtaining of hemicellulose-derived monosaccharides with the minimum formation of degradation products. The […]

A comprehensive review on different classes of polyphenolic compounds present in edible oils.

Edible oils are used as a frying medium and in the preparation of several food products. They are mainly constituting triacylglycerols as major components, while other compounds are classified as minor constituents, which include polyphenols. This class of compounds plays an important role in the thermal stability and quality attributes of the finished industrial food […]

β-Ionone Attenuates Dexamethasone-Induced Suppression of Collagen and Hyaluronic Acid Synthesis in Human Dermal Fibroblasts

Stress is a major contributing factor of skin aging, which is clinically characterized by wrinkles, loss of elasticity, and dryness. In particular, glucocorticoids are generally considered key hormones for promoting stress-induced skin aging through binding to glucocorticoid receptors (GRs). In this work, we aimed to investigate whether β-ionone (a compound occurring in various foods such […]

Limited Evidence for Accumulation of Latent Infections of Canker-Causing Pathogens in Shoots of Stone Fruit and Nut Crops in California

Prevalence of latent infections of the canker-causing fungi Botryosphaeria dothidea and species of Cytospora, Diplodia, Lasiodiplodia, Neofusicoccum, and Phomopsis in young shoots of almond, prune and walnut trees in California was studied to test the hypotheses that 1) latent infections accumulate from current-season shoots to 1-year-old shoots in the orchard and 2) there are distinct […]

History and Current Status of Phytoplasma Diseases in the Middle East

Phytoplasmas that are associated with fruit crops, vegetables, cereal and oilseed crops, trees, ornamental, and weeds are increasing at an alarming rate in the Middle East. Up to now, fourteen 16Sr groups of phytoplasma have been identified in association with more than 164 plant species in this region. Peanut witches' broom phytoplasma strains (16SrII) are […]

Plant Prebiotics and Their Role in the Amelioration of Diseases

Prebiotics are either natural or synthetic non-digestible (non-)carbohydrate substances that boost the proliferation of gut microbes. Undigested fructooligosaccharides in the large intestine are utilised by the beneficial microorganisms for the synthesis of short-chain fatty acids for their own growth. Although various food products are now recognized as having prebiotic properties, several others, such as almonds, […]