Can "menor" be used as a noun, please look at the phrase below and explain the meaning of "menor".

Question

Phrase: "Después de tres meses, los que comían frutos secos tuvieron una menor de glucosa en sangre y el colesterol LDL ("malo") que los que comían panecillos."

• from the article "Nueces Nueces" in Diabetes Forecast

Note: the dictionary says menor means "minor/slightest" but this translation leaves the sentence incomplete. Can it possibly mean "decrease"? Was the term "menor" used correctly in that phrase?

Answer 1

Although "menor" can be used as a noun, I think the sentence is not correct, unless it is some medical use of the word I don't know about.

Anyway, as Jeremias says, the meaning is very clear.

Answer 2

The sentence is definitively incomplete: "... tuvieron una (?) menor de glucosa..."

Answer 3

Yes, in this case I think it is being used as a noun and means "decrease" or "lesser amount", as you gleaned from the context. This usage is not in the RAE buy the meaning seems pretty clear.