The randomized controlled trial included 224 Chinese participants that have MetS or are at risk for MetS. In total, 163 had MetS and 61 were at risk for it. They were then randomly assigned to either a peanut group or a white rice bar group. At the 12-week intervention and a total of 209 participants completing the trial, it was found that while there were no group differences for fasting glucose, HDL cholesterol, waist circumference, and body weight, those in the peanut group had a significantly improved with respect to MetS, no longer meeting the criteria for MetS.
All in all, consuming peanuts as a snack in place of a refined-grain may improve MetS risk without inducing weight gain in Chinese adults.
Wang, D., Sun, L., Liu, X., Niu, Z., Chen, S., Tang, L., … & Malik, V. (2020). Replacing white rice bars with peanuts as snacks in the habitual diet improves metabolic syndrome risk among Chinese adults: a randomized controlled trial. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.