Beneficial Changes in Total and LDL-Cholesterol, Gut Health Parameters, and Vitamin E Status in Adults With Metabolic Syndrome Consuming Almonds as Snacks

Objectives: To identify the development of prediabetes among staff and students at a Mid-western university.Methods: An email announcement was sent to all staff and students inviting them to participate in a screening for their risk of prediabetes.The main screening tool was the HbA1C Now test kit which uses a small amount of capillary blood and provides results within 5 minutes.Participants were also evaluated for body composition, waist circumference, blood pressure, presence of acanthosis nigricans (AN) around the neck, and family history of T2DM.Results: 140 participants, aged 19 to 65, mean age of 30.31AE13.14 reported for the screening over four months.Of the total participants, 24 had elevated HbA1c indicating prediabetes and 4 had a level indicating diabetes.The HbA1C correlated significantly with visceral fat and presence of AN.High BMI significantly correlated with high WC, presence of AN on the neck, and high visceral fat, but negatively correlated with body water %.Family history of T2DM was reported by 83.6% of participants.A total of 93 participants had three or more risk factors for T2DM.Conclusions: Despite having a family history of T2DM, high BMI and WC, presence of AN, and high body fat %, few participants had HbA1C levels classifying them for pre-diabetes.Participants with higher BMI had lower percentage of body water.Most of the participants had three or more risk factors for T2DM although HbA1C levels failed to classify them with pre-diabetes.Related to family history, the grandparents had T2DM.Based on the presence of the other risk factors, interventions are needed to reduce the risk for T2DM specifically the high BMI, WC and visceral fat for individuals under the age of 35.