Mateș Letiția, Fizeșan Ionel, Leucuța Daniel-Corneliu, Petru Andreea-Elena, Muntean Dana Maria, Albert-Ani Doina, Alexa Oana Andreea, Rusu Marius Emil, Filip Lorena, Popa Daniela-Saveta
Department of Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 8 Victor Babes, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Department of Medical Informatics and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 6 Pasteur Street, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Nutrients. 2025 Aug 30;17(17):2826. doi: 10.3390/nu17172826.
Oxidative stress (OS) and inflammation are interconnected processes with significant roles in various chronic diseases, particularly those associated with aging, such as metabolic syndrome (MetS). Recent evidence suggests that walnuts (from L.), due to their rich content of phytochemicals, have antiaging potential by attenuating OS and chronic low-grade inflammation, known as inflammaging.
We aimed to assess the impact of daily walnut consumption for 4 weeks on biomarkers of OS and inflammation in a cohort of middle-aged individuals at risk of developing MetS.
In this crossover randomized controlled trial (RCT), 22 participants (mean age: 48.81 ± 4.3 years) underwent two 28-day dietary interventions separated by a one-month washout period. One intervention period included daily consumption of 45 g of walnuts, while the other (control period) involved a normal-calorie diet without walnuts. Catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and interleukin (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) levels were determined from serum before and after each intervention period.
Assessment of changes obtained for the selected biomarkers following the walnut and control-diet periods (final-baseline) showed slight changes, but without any statistical significance, among the 20 participants included in the analysis.
This first RCT targeting a group of middle-aged adults at risk of developing MetS shows that short-term (4 weeks) daily walnut consumption did not significantly alter oxidative stress and inflammation parameters, thus potentially contributing to the maintenance of cellular homeostasis. Further research is needed to investigate the impact of daily walnut consumption over a longer period (>3 months) on oxidative and inflammatory status in the middle-aged population and its potential to positively impact MetS biomarkers.
氧化应激（OS）和炎症是相互关联的过程，在各种慢性疾病中发挥着重要作用，尤其是与衰老相关的疾病，如代谢综合征（MetS）。最近的证据表明，核桃（胡桃属）因其丰富的植物化学物质含量，通过减轻OS和慢性低度炎症（即炎症衰老）而具有抗衰老潜力。
我们旨在评估一组有患MetS风险的中年个体每日食用核桃4周对OS和炎症生物标志物的影响。
在这项交叉随机对照试验（RCT）中，22名参与者（平均年龄：48.81±4.3岁）接受了两次为期28天的饮食干预，中间有一个月的洗脱期。一个干预期包括每日食用45克核桃，而另一个（对照期）则是不含核桃的正常热量饮食。在每个干预期前后，从血清中测定过氧化氢酶（CAT）和谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶（GPx）活性、总抗氧化能力（TAC）以及白细胞介素（IL-1β、IL-6、IL-8）和肿瘤坏死因子α（TNF-α）水平。
对分析中纳入的20名参与者在食用核桃期和对照饮食期后（最终-基线）所选生物标志物的变化评估显示，有轻微变化，但无任何统计学意义。
这项针对一组有患MetS风险的中年成年人的首次RCT表明，短期（4周）每日食用核桃并未显著改变氧化应激和炎症参数，因此可能有助于维持细胞稳态。需要进一步研究来调查长期（>3个月）每日食用核桃对中年人群氧化和炎症状态的影响及其对MetS生物标志物产生积极影响的潜力。
