The Potential Benefits and Proposed Mechanism of Tropical Nuts Against Metabolic Syndrome: A Literature Review
Background: Metabolic syndrome is a significant risk factor for both type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The prevalence of metabolic syndromes is high in Asia Pacific, including Indonesia. Tropical nuts have the prospect of being developed as functional foods and can be a complementary treatment for metabolic syndrome since they are rich in monounsaturated fatty acid, polyunsaturated fatty acid, fiber, minerals, vitamins, phytosterols, and polyphenols.
Objectives: This review aims to evaluate the potential of nuts that grow in the tropic area against metabolic syndrome and the mechanism involved
Methods: The study design was a literature review of several articles from three databases search: PubMed, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect
Discussion: Tropical nuts (peanut, sacha inchi, cashew, tropical almond, and brazil nut) have several biologically active components such as arginine, fiber, fatty acid, mineral, vitamin, phenolic compounds, resveratrol, and phytosterol. As an antioxidant, they could modulate Nrf2, SOD, MDA, GSH, GPx, and CAT. In inflammation, they affect NF-κB, NLRP3, TNF-ɑ,IL-8, IL-1ꞵ, IL-6, and IL-10. Tropical nuts show improvement in lipid synthesis, nitric oxide, advanced glycation end-product, prostaglandin, SIRT3, homocysteine, protein kinase C, adhesion molecules, platelet aggregation, GLP-1, PYY, AGRP, PPARɑ/ꞵ/δ, GLUT4, and insulin receptor.
Conclusions: Tropical nuts can act as antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, antiobesity, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, anti dyslipidemia, and cardioprotective which have a beneficial effect on metabolic syndrome.
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