NCT04799821

The Role of Walnut Consumption on Sleep Quality

Eat Walnuts and Sleep Better: Exploring the Potential Role of Walnuts as Sleep-promoting Food and Their Impact on Body Composition

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 100 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Barcelona · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 20 Years – 40 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Walnuts have a unique nutritional profile, including the sleep-regulating hormone melatonin, tryptophan, and omega-3 fatty acids, the two latest nutrients involved in melatonin and serotonin synthesis. Although it has been claimed that walnuts may improve sleep, to the investigators' knowledge, no studies have been conducted to objectively determine the impact of walnut consumption on sleep and overall well-being. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of daily walnut consumption on sleep parameters (such as quality and duration). Secondarily, it aims to investigate the impact of daily walnut consumption on body composition, eating behavior, and well-being.

Detailed description

The study to investigate the effect of daily walnut consumption on sleep quality will be conducted in an 18-week randomized crossover trial, in which participants will be initially assigned to intervention or control conditions for 8-weeks. After 2 weeks of washout, subjects will be crossed over to the alternate intervention and will continue for another 8 weeks. Note that throughout the whole study, each participant will attend 5 visits: 1 initial visit (baseline) and 2 visits in each one of the study conditions (intervention and control).

Conditions

• Healthy Diet
• Sleep

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Control	Participants will be asked to refrain from walnut intake and to follow an isocaloric meal plan that complies with the recommendations of a healthy Mediterranean-style eating pattern.
OTHER	Walnut intake	Participants will be asked to consume walnuts along with an isocaloric meal plan that complies with the recommendations of a healthy Mediterranean-style eating pattern.

Timeline

• Start date: 2021-02-01
• Primary completion: 2022-07-31
• Completion: 2023-03-31
• First posted: 2021-03-16
• Last updated: 2023-11-29

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Spain