5. Conclusions
In conclusion, we confirm that mastication does not provide sufficient mechanical disruption to result in a PSD that facilitates complete lipid release from whole almonds. In addition, commercial processing of almonds by grinding results in a post-mastication PSD with a larger proportion of smaller particles, and a subsequent modest increase in predicted lipid bioaccessibility compared to the results following mastication of whole almonds. However, it is unlikely that the difference in lipid bioaccessibility is sufficient to result in clinically meaningful differences to human health outcomes, for example gut microbiota composition. Future studies are needed to investigate the impact of alternative almond processing methods, for example grinding of almonds into butter (almost complete lipid release, but also change in cell matrix [