Timely new research1 highlights how almonds align with the recently published 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs), which prioritize diets built on whole, nutrient-dense and minimally processed foods2 according to the Almond Board of California.
The new study – published in Nutrients just ahead of the release of the new DGAs – set out to assess diet quality including the nutritional impact of adding almonds to the diet and replacing snacks with almonds, among American children and adults.
Key study findings include
- Replacing popular processed snacks such as ice cream, cookies, cakes, doughnuts, candy and savoury snacks with almonds significantly improved diet quality, especially for children, teens and young adults.
- When solid snacks were replaced with almonds, diets were higher in protein, fiber, unsaturated fats and magnesium, and lower in saturated fat, added sugars and sodium.
- Adding almonds (30 grams or 50 grams) to diets increased overall diet quality, even without any other dietary changes.
Replacing all solid snacks –or even just half of the less healthy snacks – with almonds brought diets closer to meeting DGA recommendations, with the greatest impact in children aged 4-13 years. These improvements were largely the result of significant drops in saturated fat, added sugars, sodium and refined grains. There were also significant increases in protein, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, fiber and magnesium.
Unsurprisingly, adding either 30g or 50g of almonds to diets without any other changes resulted in higher calorie (energy) intakes, but there was also an improvement in the nutrient density of diets. Research has consistently shown that adding almonds to the diet does not lead to weight gain3. While the greatest effects on diet quality were seen with the larger serving size, even the 30g portion led to significant improvements and moved diets closer to recommendations.
“Almonds are a nutrient-dense, minimally processed food and are well aligned with the new Guidelines,” says Dr. Drewnowski. “Our research found swapping sugary and/or salty snacks such as cookies, cakes, candy and chips for nutrient-rich almonds – or even just adding almonds to diets without making any other changes – has great potential for increasing essential nutrients like protein, fiber, unsaturated fats and magnesium, and lowering saturated fat, added sugars and sodium.”
The findings are perhaps unsurprising given the strong nutritional profile of almonds – a 1 ounce serving provides 6g of protein, 4g of fiber, 13g of unsaturated fat, only 1g of saturated fat, and 15 essential nutrients, including 77 mg magnesium (20% DV), 210 mg potassium (4% DV), and 7.3 mg vitamin E (50% DV).
The benefits of adding almonds to the diet extend beyond the United States. Almonds are an easy, delicious snack that can support improved diet quality globally,” concludes Dr. Drewnowski.
References:
1 Maillot M, Poinsot R, Tahiri M, Drewnowski A. Replacing Solid Snacks with Almonds or Adding Almonds to the Diet | ||||
2 USDA. Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2030. Published 7 January 2026. | ||||
3 Trumbo PR, Ard J, Bellisle F, Drewnowski A, Gilbert JA, Kleinman R, et al. Perspective: Current Scientific Evidence |
Source: Almond Board of California