An Overview of Important Endemic Plants and Their Products in Iran
Raymond Cooper, Jeffrey John Deakin in Natural Products of Silk Road Plants, 2020
Amygdalus communis (Figure 7.11) is a deciduous tree growing up to 6 m. The flowers are hermaphrodite. The plant is self-fertile. It is suitable to grow in light (sandy), medium (loamy), and heavy (clay) soils and prefers well-drained soil. It is suitable to grow in the soil with acid, neutral, and basic (alkaline) pH. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers moist soil. As well as being a tasty addition to the diet, almonds are also beneficial to the overall health of the body, being used especially in the treatment of kidney stones, gallstones, and constipation. Externally, the oil is applied to dry skins and is also often used as a carrier oil in aromatherapy. The seed is demulcent, emollient, laxative, nutritive, and pectoral. The leaves are used in the treatment of diabetes. The plant contains the anti-tumor compound taxifolin (Zargari, 2014; Mozaffarian, 2011; Plant for a Future; Moosavi et al., 2014).
Integrative Nutritional Therapy for Cardiovascular Disease
Mary J. Marian, Gerard E. Mullin in Integrating Nutrition Into Practice, 2017
Almonds contain several constituents that may benefit cardiovascular health including fiber, polyphenols, and plant sterols. A few small, short-term clinical trials have focused on the potential for almonds to lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL cholesterol. A meta-analysis of these trials found only very modest benefit to lipid profiles with between 1 and 6 oz of almonds daily [73], but further analysis suggested that nondiabetic participants with high cholesterol may benefit the most. However, confusing matters somewhat, this group was also at risk for HDL lowering secondary to almonds. This based on the available data, almonds may have a neutral effect on lipids, and should probably not be considered the cornerstone of treatment for high cholesterol. Despite this position, almonds have held a key role in the Portfolio dietary pattern for LDL lowering [43], and subsequent studies have not only confirmed an LDL-lowering effect of almond-supplemented diets [74], but have also demonstrated CRP lowering [75], and reduced LDL oxidation [76]. Additional cardiometabolic benefits of almond intake include reduced post-prandial blood glucose, that is, reducing the glycemic response of high carbohydrate-mixed meals [77].
Nuts
Christopher Cumo in Ancestral Diets and Nutrition, 2020
Modern taxonomy’s originator, Swedish naturalist Carl von Linne (1707–1778)—better known as Carolus Linnaeus—defined a nut as a seed with rigid skin.1 Among botanists, this idea has yielded to the definition of a nut as a fruit within a shell. Chapter 14 defines a fruit as a flower’s fertilized ovary, which develops to hold seeds. A nut, therefore, has an additional structure—a shell that encases a fruit—and so is more than a fruit by itself and more than Linnaeus’ seed inside unyielding skin. The botanical definition of a nut, in excluding mere seeds within shells, rejects naming almonds (Amygdalus communis), pecans (Carya illinoinensis), and walnuts (Juglans regia) as nuts. Some edibles that are branded nuts—for example, coconuts (Cocos nucifera), peanuts (Arachis hypogaea), pine nuts (Pinus species), Brazil nuts (Bertholletia excelsa), and Grape nuts—are also not nuts. Grape nuts flagrantly misuse language, being neither grapes (Vitis vinifera) nor nuts.
Relationship Between Nut Consumption and Metabolic Syndrome: A Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies
Published in Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2019
Yi Zhang, Dian-Zhong Zhang
Generally speaking, nuts were composed of almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, peanuts, and pistachios (14). Since the components of nuts vary among varieties (14, 27), it is speculated that the biological effect of nuts on MetS may vary with variety. This was also the subject that the present study intended to investigate. However, only several studies specified the varieties of nuts as tree nuts and peanuts, so the various varieties could only be regarded as these two types. Surprisingly, the negative relationship between nut consumption and MetS was only found in tree nuts, but not in peanuts. Two speculations were given, as follows. First, the reliability of these results might be weakened since only a small number of studies were included (4 studies for tree nuts (12, 14, 15, 18) and 2 studies for peanuts (14, 15)). Second, the components in nuts were complicated. Some neglected substance in peanuts might run counter to the biological effect of ellagic acid and L-arginine. Of interest, although the results of subgroup analysis were accompanied by the limited number of studies and high heterogeneity (Table 2), the diagnostic criteria of MetS (NCEP-ATP III), geographical region (North America), sample size (< 5000), and exposure assessment (24-hour dietary recall) may still probably influence the relationship between nut consumption and MetS. As a consequence, more well-designed studies with detailed specifications of nut varieties are needed.
Effects of Consuming Almonds on Insulin Sensitivity and Other Cardiometabolic Health Markers in Adults With Prediabetes
Published in Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2020
Orsolya M. Palacios, Kevin C. Maki, Di Xiao, Meredith L. Wilcox, Mary R. Dicklin, Melvyn Kramer, Rupal Trivedi, Britt Burton-Freeman, Indika Edirisinghe
Strengths of this study include the use of commonly consumed snack foods for both diet conditions and their incorporation into a habitual diet, thus mimicking snacking occasions in real life. However, 3.0 oz of almonds may be slightly higher than typical daily snacking quantities, and other forms of almonds (e.g., roasted and salted, nut butters) may be more commonly consumed than raw almonds. A limitation of the trial is the reliance on subject dietary reporting. Prior studies have shown that, on average, individuals underreport energy intake by 20% (58), with even greater underreporting with increasing overweight/obese weight status (59). Thus, we cannot rule out the possibility of systematic errors in dietary intake data provided by subjects, which could produce bias. However, subjects served as their own controls, and intakes of nutrients, including CHO and fat, differed between conditions to the degree expected based on the study product nutrient profiles. Another limitation is the relatively short intervention period of 6 weeks. It will be of interest to assess whether adaptation occurs over time with longer periods of intervention. An additional issue relates to the use of an IVGTT rather than a more physiologic method of delivering a CHO load, such as an oral glucose or meal tolerance test. However, the authors believe that it is unlikely that the findings would have been materially different because we and others have shown that the most commonly used index of insulin sensitivity from oral glucose or meal tolerance tests (the Matsuda index) correlates strongly with results from IVGTT-derived indices (35,60).
Preclinical renal chemo-protective potential of Prunus amygdalus Batsch seed coat via alteration of multiple molecular pathways
Published in Archives of Physiology and Biochemistry, 2018
Preeti Pandey, Prakash Chandra Bhatt, Mahfoozur Rahman, Dinesh Kumar Patel, Firoz Anwar, Fahad Al-Abbasi, Amita Verma, Vikas Kumar
Almond (Prunus amygdalus Batsch), a member of Rosaceae family, was cultivated in different regions of world. It is one of the most popular tree and ranked first among the top nut trees (Liu et al. 2014). The USA especially California is the largest producer of almond worldwide, it is native to Mediterranean region of Middle East (Yazbek and Oh 2013). In India, Himalaya region supports the growth and production of the almond. Almond is considered as an important crop, which produces high commercial variety of fruit and used in the confectionery, bakery, and snacks worldwide (Sang et al. 2002a). Few investigations support the high potential of seeds, green hull, middle shell, and brown skin, for free radicals scavenging activity due to diverse anti-oxidant phytoconstituents including phenolic flavonoids and terpenoids in it (Sang et al. 2002b, Chaouali et al. 2013). Many evidences demonstrated that the whole plant of almond is a rich source of phenolic compound, protocatechuic, catechin, benzoic, and 4-hydroxy benzoic acid. On the basis of available scientific literature, it can be said that whole plant of almond is a rich source of anti-oxidants (Sang et al. 2002a, Esfahlan et al. 2010). From the available literature till date, there has been no or little interest taken in exploring the chemo-preventive potential of GA. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to report the therapeutic efficacy of green almond (GA) against renal cancer. In short, we have scrutinised the possible phytoconstituents present in the GA and tried to decipher the possible mechanism of action via anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory approach against renal cancer.