BRAZILIAN NUT INTAKE HAS NO INFLUENCE ON BODY COMPOSITION IN OBESE WOMEN

Background and objectives: Nuts are considered to have an optimal energy density and a good source of lipids, especially unsaturated fatty acids. One Brazilian nut provides approximately 35,3kcal and 3,24g of total lipids, mainly monounsaturated fatty acids. The daily consumption of this food has been associated with the improvement of lipid profile and risk reduction of cardiovascular diseases. However, there is a concern about the possible effects of the daily intake of nuts on weight gain. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Brazilian nuts (Bertholletia excelsa H.B.K.) intake on body composition of obese women. Methods: We enrolled 72 obese women recruited in the outpatient clinic of endocrinology from Clinics Hospital of Sao Paulo, Brazil. They were randomly assigned to either ingestion of Brazil nuts (BN) group or control (CO) group and they were followed up for 2 months. Participants of the treatment group consumed one Brazilian nut daily and the control group avoided the intake of any food containing the nut for the same period of time. On baseline and after two months of follow-up were assessed weight and height for the calculation of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and percentage of body fat (%BF). Repeated measures ANOVA analyses were performed using SPSS 18.0 software to evaluate the effect of supplementation time with Brazilian nuts on the variables mentioned above. Results: Twenty-nine participants of the treated group (BN) and twenty-six of the control group (CO) completed the trial. The mean age of BN and CO group was 40,3±9,0 and 39,4±9,5 (P=0,714) respectively. For BN and CO groups, no significant differences were observed for weight (ΔAfter-Before= -0,50) (ΔAfter-Before= 0,20) (P=0,723), BMI (ΔAfter-Before= -0,10) (ΔAfter-Before=0,10) (P=0,784), WC (ΔAfter-Before= -1,10) (ΔAfter-Before= 2,50) (P=0,111) and %BF (ΔAfter-Before= 0,30) (ΔAfter-Before= -0,10) (P=0,587). Conclusions: The data show that Brazilian nut consumption for two months has no effect on the body composition of obese women.