Eating This One Specific Nut May Reduce Inflammation
People are always on the search for the latest superfood. Whether it's some exotic berry or special fermented food, they're looking to optimize their health in every way possible.
However, it's often the things right in front of your face that provide the most benefit. Researchers set out to determine if almonds had any impact in lowering inflammation.
A study was conducted in 69 obese adults age 30-45 that were split into two groups. One group ate 2 oz. of almonds per day, while the other group ate an equal number of calories in the form of cookies.
The almond group showed 29–47% greater reductions in three key inflammatory proteins in the blood. Here's the most important part: neither group lost weight. We know that weight loss plays a massive role in improving blood markers, so both groups maintaining their weight says a lot about the potential role of almonds in health.
What's interesting is that the benefits were solely related to inflammation. There were no meaningful changes in blood sugar, cholesterol, or blood pressure in either group.
This actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it. Inflammation is often the earliest sign that something is going wrong in the body. It tends to show up long before blood sugar or cholesterol start moving in the wrong direction. So seeing inflammation improve first, without those other markers budging yet, suggests almonds may be working at a more fundamental level. Give it more time, and those downstream benefits might follow.
When foods are studied in isolation, there are often other variables involved that can skew the results. As we mentioned, weight loss is a big factor, but neither group lost weight here. Keeping calories equal between groups is also important, which is why giving the control group an isocaloric snack (say what you will about the cookies) is key. This study design removed these variables. And while you can't control every single lifestyle factor like sleep, stress, and the rest of the diet, it shows that there may be something here with almonds. In a world of complicated health advice, it's comforting to see that something as simple as almond consumption may be an easy win for people.
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This story was originally published May 24, 2026 at 4:51 PM.