Regular almond consumption has been shown to improve body weight management, lipid profile and blood glucose control. We hypothesized that almond consumption would alter fecal microbiota composition, including increased abundance and activity of potentially beneficial bacterial taxa in adults who are overweight and obese with elevated fasting blood glucose. A total of 69 adults who were overweight or obese with an elevated plasma glucose (age: 60.8 ± 7.4, BMI ≥27 kg/m2, fasting plasma glucose ≥5.6 to <7.0 mmol/L) were randomized to daily consumption of either 2 servings of almonds (AS:56 g/day) or an isocaloric, high carbohydrate biscuit snack for 8 weeks. AS but not biscuit snack experienced significant changes in microbiota composition (P= .011) and increases in bacterial richness, evenness, and diversity (P< .01). Increases in both the relative and absolute abundance of operational taxonomic units in the Ruminococcaceae family, including Ruminiclostridium (false discovery rate P = .002), Ruminococcaceae NK4A214 (P = .002) and Ruminococcaceae UCG-003 (P = .002) were the principal drivers of microbiota-level changes. No changes in fecal short chain fatty acid levels, or in the carriage of the gene encoding butyryl-CoA:acetate CoA-transferase (an enzyme involved in butyrate synthesis) occurred. Almond consumption was not associated with reduced gut permeability, but fecal pH (P= .0006) and moisture content (P = .027) decreased significantly in AS when compared to BS. Regular almond consumption increased the abundance of potentially beneficial ruminococci in the fecal microbiota in individuals with elevated blood glucose. However, fecal short-chain fatty acid levels remained unaltered and the capacity for such microbiological effects to precipitate host benefit is not known.

中文翻译：

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食用杏仁会影响空腹血糖升高的超重和肥胖成人的粪便微生物群组成、粪便 pH 值和粪便水分：一项随机对照试验

经常食用杏仁已被证明可以改善体重管理、血脂和血糖控制。我们假设食用杏仁会改变粪便微生物群的组成，包括增加空腹血糖升高的超重和肥胖成人的潜在有益细菌类群的丰度和活性。共有 69 名超重或肥胖且血浆葡萄糖升高的成人（年龄：60.8 ± 7.4，BMI ≥ 27 kg/m2，空腹血糖≥5.6 至 <7.0 mmol/L）被随机分配至每日食用 2 份杏仁（AS：56 克/天）或等热量、高碳水化合物饼干零食 8 周。AS而非饼干零食的微生物群组成发生了显着变化（P = .011），细菌丰富度、均匀度和多样性增加（P < .01）。瘤胃球菌科操作分类单位的相对和绝对丰度增加，包括瘤胃梭菌属（错误发现率 P = .002）、瘤胃球菌科 NK4A214 (P = .002) 和瘤胃球菌科 UCG-003 (P = .002)微生物群水平变化的主要驱动因素。粪便短链脂肪酸水平或编码丁酰辅酶A：乙酸辅酶A转移酶（一种参与丁酸合成的酶）的基因的携带没有发生变化。杏仁消耗量与肠道通透性降低无关，但与 BS 相比，AS 中的粪便 pH (P = .0006) 和水分含量 (P = .027) 显着降低。经常食用杏仁会增加血糖升高个体粪便微生物群中潜在有益瘤胃球菌的丰度。然而，