Nuts and plasma lipids: an almond-based diet lowers LDL-C while preserving HDL-C.

OBJECTIVE: To compare lipid-altering effects of an almond-based diet with an olive oil-based diet; against a cheese and butter-based control diet. METHODS: Forty-five free-living hyperlipidemic men (n = 12) and women (n = 33) with a mean plasma total cholesterol (TC) of 251 +/- 30 mg/dL followed one of three diets; almond-based; olive oil-based; or […]

Antiradical activity of extracts of almond and its by-products

Antioxidant activities of ethanolic extracts of whole almond seed, brown skin, and green shell cover were evaluated using different free radical trapping assays. Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity assay revealed that the total antioxidant capacities of brown skin and green shell cover extracts were 13 and 10 times greater than that of the whole seed extract […]

Sphingolipid and other constituents from almond nuts (Prunus amygdalus Batsch).

One sphingolipid; 1-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(2S;3R;4E;8Z)-2-[(2R)-2-hydroxyhexadecanoylamino]-4;8-octadecadiene-1;3-diol; and four other constituents; beta-sitosterol; daucosterol; uridine; and adenosine; have been isolated from the nuts of almond (Prunus amygdalus). Complete assignments of the proton and carbon chemical shifts for the sphingolipid were accomplished on the basis of high-resolution 1D and 2D NMR data. All of these compounds are being reported from almond […]

Biochemical characterization of amandin; the major storage protein in almond (Prunus dulcis L.).

The almond major storage protein; amandin; was prepared by column chromatography (amandin-1); cryoprecipitation (amandin-2); and isoelectric precipitation (amandin-3) methods. Amandin is a legumin type protein characterized by a sedimentation value of 14S. Amandin is composed of two major types of polypeptides with estimated molecular weights of 42-46 and 20-22 kDa linked via disulfide bonds. Several […]