Frontiers in Nutrition · Oct 31, 2026
The Effects of Almond Consumption on Human Health: An Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses
By Mansour Alblaji
Objective: An umbrella review was conducted to critically evaluate and synthesize the best available evidence on the health effects of almond consumption in adults across cardiometabolic, anthropometric, inflammatory, oxidative stress, liver, and appetite-related outcomes. Methods: PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science Core Collection were searched from inception to August 2026 for systematic reviews with meta-analyses (SRMAs) of randomized controlled trials evaluating almond consumption in adults. Methodological quality of the included reviews was assessed using the A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR-2), and the certainty of evidence was evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. The protocol was prospectively registered in PROSPERO (CRD420261485898). Results: Eight SRMAs were included. Almond consumption significantly improved several lipid-related outcomes, including low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoprotein B, and atherogenic lipid ratios. Subgroup analyses showed statistically significant reductions in body weight, waist circumference, and fat mass in studies using almond doses ≥50 g/day and in studies with intervention durations ≥12 weeks. Almond intake reduced hunger and significantly improved selected inflammatory and oxidative stress biomarkers, including C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, superoxide dismutase, uric acid, and 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine. The certainty of evidence ranged from high to very low across outcomes. Five of the eight included reviews were rated as critically low by AMSTAR-2. Conclusion: Almond consumption may provide beneficial effects on human health. However, given the methodological limitations of the included SRMAs, further high-quality research is needed to confirm these findings.