Overview
- The Maastricht University trial enrolled 31 healthy adults aged 60 to 75 in a single‑blind, randomized, controlled crossover design with a 16‑week peanut phase, an eight‑week washout, and a 16‑week control period.
- Global cerebral blood flow rose 3.6% after the peanut phase, with increases in gray matter (4.5%), the frontal lobes (6.6%) and the temporal lobes (4.9%) measured by arterial spin‑labeling MRI.
- Verbal memory improved by roughly 5.8% to 6%, while executive function and psychomotor speed showed no meaningful changes.
- Systolic blood pressure fell by about 5 mmHg and pulse pressure by 4 mmHg, and most participants did not gain appreciable weight despite an added ~340 calories per day.
- Researchers caution that the findings are preliminary given the small, single‑blind sample and unproven mechanisms, and they plan follow‑up studies to test peanut butter, smaller servings and broader populations; the work was funded by The Peanut Institute Foundation without a role in the study design or analysis.