Healthy Prebiotic and Postbiotic Effects of Peanuts and Peanut Butter: College Intervention Trial

Nuts have a prebiotic effect mainly due to their content of fiber and polyphenols, which provide substrates for the human gut microbiota. It is known that prebiotic substances are metabolized by microbiota generating postbiotics substances (products or metabolic by-products secreted by live bacteria or released after bacterial lysis). These products may improve host health and partly explain the health benefits of nut consumption. However, no study has been performed about the pre- and postbiotic effects of peanut and peanut butter consumption. Therefore, researchers propose a new interventional study to assess the impact of daily peanut and peanut butter intake on the organism, evaluating the pre- and postbiotic effects. The metabolome data generated will be correlated with the beneficial effects and cognitive skills. The final aim of this work is to spread a message of the health benefits of peanut consumption for the general population.