Snacking on almonds can help people reduce calorie intake: study

Building healthy eating habits From CTV Kitchener’s Leighanne Evans: A Kitchener-based dietician has some quick healthy meal ideas and tips for reading nutrition labels.

A handful of almonds may be the latest weight loss hack, new research suggests.

A new study from the University of South Australia found that eating 30 to 50 grams of almonds could regulate appetite, leading to less calories consumed each day.

The research, which examined both the hormones that regulate appetite and how almonds could aid in controlling hunger, discovered that the consumption of the nut ultimately led to about 300 fewer calories consumed at the following meal.

Dr. Sharayah Carter, from UniSA’s Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA), said in a news release that almonds present as a weight loss tool due to their satiating effect -- a result of their protein, fibre, and unsaturated fatty acids content.

A total of 140 participants completed the assessment published in the European Journal of Nutrition. The group consisted of a combination of males and females, aged 25 to 65, who had stable weight and were non-smokers.

The participants did an overnight fast, and afterwards ate a randomly allocated snack by the researchers: either almonds or a baked apple snack bar with the equivalent amount of energy.

The participants’ appetite-regulating hormones were examined prior to snack consumption, as well as in multiple increments following it -- 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes afterwards.

A smaller group of the study participants then consumed a buffet meal. (COVID-19 lockdowns limited the number of participants who could take part in this portion of the assessment.)

Following the meal, the effects of the snack were examined by researchers to see how it impacted calorie consumption at meal time.

What they found was that those who consumed the nuts, as opposed to the carbohydrate snack, consumed about 300 fewer calories at the buffet.

This was due to the satiation provided by the almonds, which had shown to promote energy balance and as a result can support healthy weight management, researchers say.

Obesity is recognized as one of the major global public health issues, with 1.9 billion adults reported as being overweight and 650 million of them considered obese as of 2016, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Therefore, it is critical to understand how to best regulate eating behaviours, according to the study.