Almonds: Blood Sugar and Diabetes

Table of Contents

1. The Blood-Sugar Measurements, Explained
2. Single-Meal Trials: Almonds With Bread and Rice
3. Pre-Meal “Preload” Trials in Asian Indians
4. Snack or Mealtime: The Four-Week Timing Trial
5. Longer Trials in Prediabetes
6. Longer Trials in Type 2 Diabetes
7. Adults Without Diabetes, Including Null Results
8. The Meta-Analyses: Pooled Results
9. Diabetes Risk in Population Studies
10. The Magnesium Angle, Briefly
11. Proposed Mechanisms
12. What Is Not Known
13. Who the Research Raises Concerns For
14. Connections
15. Key Research Papers
16. Featured Videos

The Blood-Sugar Measurements, Explained

The almond trials do not all measure the same thing, and much of the apparent contradiction in this literature disappears once that is clear. A trial can lower one marker and leave another unchanged.

• Post-meal (postprandial) glucose. How far, and for how long, blood sugar rises in the hours after a meal. It is usually reported as the “incremental area under the curve” — the total rise above the starting level, added up over two to four hours. This is what single-meal trials measure.
• Glycemic index (GI). The post-meal glucose rise from a food or meal, scaled against a reference such as white bread or glucose. A lower number means a smaller rise for the same amount of carbohydrate.
• Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). A standard 75 g glucose drink, with blood taken over the next two hours. Prediabetes is partly defined by the 2-hour value.
• Fasting glucose. Blood sugar after an overnight fast — a snapshot of one morning.
• HbA1c. The share of haemoglobin in red blood cells that has sugar attached. Because red cells live about three months, it reflects average blood sugar over that period, which is why trials shorter than roughly 12 weeks have little chance of moving it.
• Fasting insulin and HOMA-IR. HOMA-IR is a calculation from fasting glucose and fasting insulin that estimates insulin resistance — how hard the pancreas has to work to keep blood sugar normal.
• Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). A sensor under the skin that records glucose every few minutes for days, capturing spikes, swings and overnight lows that a single blood draw misses.

As a rough guide to what follows: the post-meal measures move most often with almonds, fasting insulin and HOMA-IR move in some longer trials, and fasting glucose and HbA1c move least often.

Single-Meal Trials: Almonds With Bread and Rice

The cleanest almond experiments are single meals. The same people come in on separate mornings, eat a carbohydrate meal with and without almonds in random order, and have their blood sampled. Because each person is compared with themselves, small groups can detect real differences — but the result describes the next few hours only.

The dose-response study with white bread (Toronto, 2007)

Josse and colleagues fed nine healthy young adults (two women, seven men, mean age about 28) a white-bread meal containing 50 g of available carbohydrate, either alone or with 30, 60 or 90 g of almonds (about 1, 2 or 3 oz). Finger-prick glucose was measured over two hours. The glycemic index of the combined meal fell as the almond dose rose: about 106 with 30 g (no real change from bread alone), 63 with 60 g and 45 with 90 g. The authors concluded that almonds may reduce the glycemic impact of the carbohydrate foods eaten with them. Two points matter for reading this result: the effect only appeared at 60 g and above, which is two or more servings in one sitting, and the participants were healthy, lean volunteers.

Almonds with bread versus rice and potatoes (Toronto, 2006)

In an earlier study from the same group, Jenkins and colleagues gave 15 healthy adults a meal of almonds and bread, a parboiled rice meal and an instant mashed-potato meal, all balanced for carbohydrate, fat and protein (using butter and cheese in the comparison meals), plus two plain-bread control meals. The glycemic index of the almond meal (55) and the rice meal (38) were both lower than the potato meal (94), and the insulin response was lower too. The study's main interest was oxidative damage: a marker of protein oxidation (serum protein thiols) moved in the favourable direction after the almond meal and in the unfavourable direction after the other meals when those were pooled. Total antioxidant capacity in the blood did not differ between meals. The almond meal was not the lowest-GI meal here — parboiled rice was.

One serving with a bagel, in people with and without diabetes (2011)

Cohen and Johnston tested a smaller, more realistic amount: one 28 g serving of almonds added to a breakfast of a bagel, juice and butter, in 19 adults, seven of whom had type 2 diabetes. In the participants with diabetes, post-meal glucose was 30% lower with almonds. In the participants without diabetes it was 7% lower, a difference that was not statistically significant. Insulin and the gut hormone GLP-1 at 30 minutes were not affected in either group. A single serving, in other words, measurably changed the post-meal curve only in the people whose glucose control was already impaired.

Whole almonds, almond butter, flour and oil (Indiana, 2011)

Mori, Considine and Mattes asked which part of the almond does the work. Fourteen adults with impaired glucose tolerance ate a 75 g-carbohydrate breakfast containing whole almonds, almond butter, defatted almond flour, almond oil, or no almond product, followed by a standard lunch. Whole almonds lowered the glucose rise after the second meal (lunch) and across the whole day, and gave the greatest daylong fullness. Almond butter and almond oil lowered the morning glucose rise; almond oil also lowered the daylong rise. GLP-1 did not differ between treatments. The authors suggested that the fat in almonds is likely responsible for the immediate effect but cannot explain why whole almonds behaved differently from almond butter after lunch — a hint that the physical structure of the whole nut matters.

Almond paste with fibre (Singapore, 2022)

Bi, Yeo and Jeyakumar Henry gave 15 healthy Chinese men four bread-based meals with different amounts of almond paste and inulin (a type of fibre). Bread eaten with 15 g of almond paste and 4 g of inulin lowered post-meal glucose and insulin; the meal's GI was 44 compared with 60 for the white bread. The same combination raised post-meal triglycerides (blood fats). The authors note that longer-term studies are needed.

Almond milk is not the same thing (Boston, 2025)

Almond milk contains very little almond. Dhaver and colleagues served oatmeal with almond milk, with carbohydrate-matched 2% cow's milk, or with calorie-matched 2% milk to 22 adults with type 2 diabetes and overweight or obesity. The primary outcome, the glucose rise over four hours, did not differ between the three. Insulin and glucagon responses were higher with the carbohydrate-matched cow's milk than with almond milk. The authors concluded that almond milk offered no additional glycemic benefit over 2% milk. Whole-almond findings do not transfer to almond beverages.

Pre-Meal “Preload” Trials in Asian Indians

A “preload” is a small amount of food eaten shortly before a meal rather than with it. A group in New Delhi tested a 20 g almond preload taken 30 minutes before each major meal in adults with prediabetes, a population in which, as the authors write, progression from prediabetes to type 2 diabetes is rapid and post-meal spikes are common.

The glucose-drink and CGM crossover trials (2023)

Gulati and colleagues ran two crossover phases in 60 participants with prediabetes. In the first, a single 20 g almond preload before a 75 g glucose drink lowered the overall glucose response (area under the curve) by about 18%, and the 1-hour and 2-hour glucose values by about 25% and 29%. Insulin, C-peptide (a marker of the pancreas's insulin output) and glucagon responses were also lower. In the second phase, participants wore a continuous glucose monitor for three days while eating their usual meals with or without the preload. With the preload, mean 24-hour glucose, time spent above 7.8 mmol/L (140 mg/dL), glucose variability and peak glucose were all lower, and post-meal glucose was about 10% lower. The authors declared no competing interests.

The three-month parallel trial (2023)

The same group then randomised 66 adults aged 18–60 with prediabetes to the 20 g preload before major meals or to a control arm for three months; 30 in each arm completed it. Compared with control, the almond arm had greater reductions in body weight, waist circumference and skinfolds, and in fasting glucose, glucose after the 75 g glucose drink, post-meal insulin, HOMA-IR, HbA1c, proinsulin, total cholesterol and VLDL cholesterol. Seven of the 30 participants in the almond arm (23.3%) returned to normal glucose regulation on both fasting and 2-hour values; the authors compared this with the 25% reported for the diabetes drug acarbose.

These are among the most striking almond results published, and they come with limits worth stating plainly: the trials were open-label (participants knew which arm they were in), took place in one research setting and one population, and the longest lasted three months. Whether the reversal of prediabetes persists, and whether the same effect appears in populations eating less refined carbohydrate, is not established by these trials. The CGM phase lasted three days.

Snack or Mealtime: The Four-Week Timing Trial

Tan and Mattes randomised 137 adults at increased risk of type 2 diabetes to eat 43 g of almonds a day for four weeks — with breakfast, with lunch, as a morning snack or as an afternoon snack — or no almonds. Glucose tolerance tests and test meals were run before and after.

• Post-meal glucose: almonds lowered the glucose response after eating, most clearly when eaten as snacks.
• Appetite: almond snacks reduced hunger and the desire to eat during the test session.
• After four weeks: body measurements and fasting blood values did not differ from the no-almond group or between the timing groups. Without being told to, participants ate less of other foods, roughly offsetting the energy in the almonds.

The trial illustrates the pattern of the whole field: an acute post-meal effect, and no change in fasting markers over a short period. The appetite and calorie side of this trial is covered on the sibling page on weight, satiety and calories.

Longer Trials in Prediabetes

The 16-week almond-enriched diet trial (2010)

Wien and colleagues randomised 65 adults with prediabetes to an American Diabetes Association diet in which almonds supplied 20% of calories (about 2 oz, or 56 g, a day) or to the same diet without nuts, for 16 weeks. Outcomes measured included fasting glucose, insulin, HbA1c and blood lipids.

• Fasting insulin fell in the almond group and rose in the control group (−1.78 vs +1.47 µU/mL).
• HOMA-IR fell (−0.48 vs +0.30), and HOMA-B, an estimate of how hard the insulin-producing beta cells are working, fell (−13.2 vs +22.3).
• LDL cholesterol fell by 12.4 mg/dL versus 0.4 mg/dL.
• The abstract reports no changes in body-mass index, systolic blood pressure, or “the other measured cardiovascular risk factors” — it does not report a significant change in fasting glucose or HbA1c.

The five-month crossover in prediabetes (Maastricht, 2024)

Chavez-Alfaro and colleagues gave 34 adults with overweight or obesity and prediabetes 50 g of whole almonds a day for five months, compared with a five-month control period. The trial's outcomes were vascular: almonds did not change arterial stiffness or blood markers of endothelial dysfunction and inflammation, but lowered 24-hour systolic blood pressure by about 3 mmHg and reduced blood-pressure variability. The abstract does not report glucose or insulin results, so this trial does not speak to glycemic control either way.

Raised fasting glucose and the gut microbiome (Adelaide, 2021)

Choo and colleagues randomised 69 adults with overweight or obesity and fasting glucose between 5.6 and 7.0 mmol/L (the prediabetes range) to 56 g of almonds a day or an equal-calorie high-carbohydrate biscuit snack for eight weeks. The reported outcomes concern the gut microbiome: richer, more diverse bacterial communities with almonds, but no change in faecal short-chain fatty acids and no reduction in gut permeability. The authors state that whether these microbial changes benefit the host is not known. The microbiome side is covered on the sibling page on the gut microbiome.

The New Delhi preload trial, described above, is the prediabetes trial that reported changes in fasting glucose and HbA1c.

Longer Trials in Type 2 Diabetes

The Taipei crossover trial (2011)

Li and colleagues studied 20 Chinese adults with type 2 diabetes and mildly raised cholesterol (average age 58, BMI 26). Each spent four weeks on a standard cholesterol-lowering diet and four weeks on the same diet with almonds replacing 20% of calories (about 60 g a day), with a two-week break between. Compared with the control diet, the almond diet gave fasting insulin 4.1% lower, fasting glucose 0.8% lower and HOMA-IR 9.2% lower, along with lower LDL cholesterol (11.6%) and apolipoprotein B. Body fat was slightly lower (29.6% vs 30.4%). With four-week periods, the trial could not test HbA1c meaningfully, and a 0.8% difference in fasting glucose is small.

The 12-week Taiwanese feeding trial (2017)

Chen and colleagues ran a longer crossover — 12 weeks on each diet — with about 60 g a day of almonds in 33 Chinese adults with type 2 diabetes. The trial's primary outcome, glycemic status, did not improve on the almond diet compared with control, nor did most cardiovascular risk factors. In a subgroup analysis of the 27 participants whose starting HbA1c was 8% or lower, the almond diet gave fasting glucose 5.9% lower and HbA1c 3.0% lower than control. Subgroup findings in a null trial are a hypothesis for testing, not a result.

The 24-week study in North India (2017)

Gulati, Misra and Pandey gave raw almonds (20% of energy intake) to adults with type 2 diabetes in New Delhi for 24 weeks, after a three-week run-in on diet and exercise counselling. After the intervention, HbA1c, waist circumference, total and LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and hs-CRP (an inflammation marker) were lower than at the start. This was a pre-post study without a separate control group, so the changes cannot be attributed to the almonds alone rather than to the counselling, the attention of being in a study, or time.

The 12-week pilot (2011)

Alongside their single-meal test, Cohen and Johnston ran a small pilot in adults with type 2 diabetes (six to seven per group): one 28 g serving of almonds five days a week for 12 weeks. HbA1c fell by 4% relative to control, while fasting glucose did not change. With so few participants, this is preliminary.

Read together, the type 2 diabetes trials show a reasonably consistent improvement in post-meal glucose and, in some trials, insulin resistance, and inconsistent effects on fasting glucose and HbA1c — the largest controlled one being null on its primary outcome.

Adults Without Diabetes, Including Null Results

Six months of almonds and HbA1c (Indiana, 2022)

Hunter, Considine and Mattes asked whether the mixed HbA1c findings might reflect differences in where people carry body fat. They randomised 134 adults with overweight or obesity to 1.5 oz (about 43 g) of almonds with breakfast and another 1.5 oz as an afternoon snack every day for six months, or to their usual breakfast and snack. HbA1c did not differ between groups (5.4% almond vs 5.5% control). The almond group ate about 816 kJ (roughly 195 kcal) more per day, yet body weight did not differ. The authors concluded that long-term almond eating had limited ability to improve cardiometabolic health in people who were overweight but otherwise healthy.

Almonds in an energy-restricted diet (Adelaide, 2023)

Carter and colleagues put 140 adults with overweight or obesity on a diet cut by 30% in calories for three months, then six months of weight maintenance, with either almonds or carbohydrate-rich snacks. Both groups lost about 7 kg. By the end, fasting glucose had fallen by about 0.2 mmol/L and fasting insulin by about 8 pmol/L — in both groups; the abstract reports no between-group difference for these markers. The almond group showed greater improvements in some lipoprotein subfractions. Weight loss itself, not the almonds, appears to account for the glucose changes.

Almond snacks in metabolic syndrome (Oregon, 2025)

Beaver and colleagues randomised 77 adults with metabolic syndrome to 2 oz of dry-roasted almonds or equal-calorie crackers daily for 12 weeks. Almonds lowered total and LDL cholesterol and improved markers of gut inflammation in participants who started with high levels, but glucose and insulin were not altered. Two of the authors disclosed financial support from an almond-industry body.

The Meta-Analyses: Pooled Results

A meta-analysis pools the results of many trials to get a more precise overall estimate. For almonds and glycemic control, the pooled results are notably weaker than the headline single trials.

• Asbaghi and colleagues, 2022 (all adults). 24 trials with 31 trial arms, searched to August 2021, random-effects model. Almond intake did not significantly change fasting blood sugar, HbA1c, fasting insulin or HOMA-IR. The authors concluded there is currently no convincing evidence that almonds have a clear beneficial effect on glycemic control. The abstract does not give the pooled estimates or heterogeneity figures.
• Moosavian and colleagues, 2022 (type 2 diabetes only). Nine trials. Almonds lowered LDL cholesterol (by 5.28 mg/dL; 95% confidence interval −9.92 to −0.64), but the effects on fasting glucose, insulin and HbA1c were not significant, nor were body weight, blood pressure or CRP.
• Ojo and colleagues, 2021 (type 2 diabetes only). Nine trials reviewed, eight pooled. Almond-based diets significantly lowered HbA1c and body-mass index, but effects on fasting glucose, 2-hour post-meal glucose, fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, GLP-1 and inflammatory markers were not significant. The review also reported that almond diets promoted the growth of gut bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids.
• Morvaridzadeh and colleagues, 2022 (all adults, broad cardiometabolic). 26 trials, 1,750 participants, results pooled as standardised mean differences. Almonds lowered diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL; the effects on fasting glucose, insulin, HbA1c, HOMA-IR and C-peptide were not significant.
• Viguiliouk and colleagues, 2014 (tree nuts in diabetes). Not almond-specific: 12 trials (450 participants) of diets emphasising tree nuts, at a median 56 g a day, in people with diabetes. Tree nuts lowered HbA1c by 0.07 percentage points (95% CI −0.10 to −0.03) and fasting glucose by 0.15 mmol/L (95% CI −0.27 to −0.02); fasting insulin and HOMA-IR showed no significant effect. The authors note that most trials were short and of poor quality. Several authors disclosed research support from nut-industry bodies.

Two points stand out. First, where a pooled effect on HbA1c was found, it was small — a 0.07-percentage-point fall in HbA1c in the tree-nut analysis. Second, the pooled analyses mainly cover fasting markers from trials of a few weeks to a few months; they say little about the post-meal effects, where the single-meal evidence is strongest. The abstracts of the almond-specific meta-analyses do not report heterogeneity statistics, so how much the individual trials disagreed is not stated here.

Diabetes Risk in Population Studies

Feeding trials measure blood markers; population (cohort) studies follow large numbers of people for years and count who develops type 2 diabetes. There are no almond-specific cohort results in this page's sources; the relevant evidence is for nuts as a group.

• Schwingshackl and colleagues, 2017. A meta-analysis of prospective studies covering 12 food groups. Nuts were not among the six food groups with a significant association with type 2 diabetes risk in the linear dose-response analysis (whole grains, fruits and dairy were linked to lower risk; red meat, processed meat and sugar-sweetened beverages to higher risk). The quality of the evidence for nuts was graded “low”.
• Banjarnahor and colleagues, 2025. An umbrella review of 67 meta-analyses. For nuts, as for most food groups other than whole grains, fruits and vegetables, processed meat, red meat and sugar-sweetened drinks, the associations with type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome were generally neutral and not statistically significant. Heterogeneity between studies was high for most food groups.

So the population data do not show that nut eaters, as a group, develop type 2 diabetes less often — a contrast with the stronger cohort findings for nuts and heart disease described on the heart-health page.

The Magnesium Angle, Briefly

Almonds are one of the richer food sources of magnesium, a mineral involved in insulin signalling. Several of the trials above (Li 2011, Beaver 2025) report that almonds raised participants' dietary magnesium intake. None of the almond trials here was designed to show that magnesium is what changed glucose, so the connection remains a plausible contributor rather than a demonstrated one. The magnesium content of almonds and its other roles are covered on the magnesium and bone page and the almond nutrient profile.

Proposed Mechanisms

Each of the following is a hypothesis drawn from the trials and their authors' interpretations; none has been isolated as the cause in people.

• Displacement. Almonds are mostly fat, protein and fibre with little digestible carbohydrate. When they replace biscuits, crackers or part of a starchy meal, there is simply less carbohydrate to raise blood sugar. Several control arms in these trials were high-carbohydrate snacks, so part of the measured difference may be what the almonds replaced.
• Fat slowing the meal down. In the Mori trial, almond oil on its own lowered the morning glucose rise, which the authors read as the fat component driving the immediate effect — fat slows how quickly the stomach empties into the intestine.
• Intact cell walls. Grundy and colleagues had 17 healthy adults chew almonds and examined what was left. Most almond cells stayed intact after chewing, with their fat still sealed inside the cell walls (the almond's fibre); only about 8.5% (natural) to 11.3% (roasted) of the fat was predicted to be immediately released. The authors proposed this “encapsulation” to explain almonds' low usable calorie content and blunted rise in blood fats. That whole almonds behaved differently from almond butter at the second meal in the Mori trial fits the same idea, but the link to glucose is inferred, not measured.
• The preload effect. Eating fat and protein 30 minutes before a meal is thought to prime the gut's hormone response and slow stomach emptying before the carbohydrate arrives. The New Delhi trials measured lower insulin, C-peptide and glucagon responses after the preload; GLP-1, one of the gut hormones usually proposed, did not differ in the Mori and Cohen trials.
• Oxidative stress. The 2006 Toronto study linked a smaller glucose spike after the almond meal with less oxidative damage to proteins. This is one meal in 15 people.

What Is Not Known

• Whether almonds prevent type 2 diabetes. No trial in this page's sources followed people long enough to count new cases of diabetes, and the nut cohort data are neutral.
• Whether the preload result holds up. The prediabetes reversal finding comes from one open-label three-month trial in one population. Independent, blinded-assessment replications of longer duration are not in these sources.
• Whether short-term post-meal effects add up. A smaller spike after one meal is well established. Whether repeated smaller spikes translate into lower HbA1c over years is exactly the question on which the meta-analyses are mostly null.
• Why the trials disagree. Candidate explanations include dose (most positive single-meal trials used 60 g or more), what the almonds replaced, baseline glucose control (effects were clearer in people with diabetes or impaired tolerance), trial length, and population diet. Hunter 2022 tested body-fat distribution as an explanation and did not find it.
• The best timing. Snack, preload and with-meal timings have each been tested in different trials, but not head-to-head over long periods, apart from the four-week Tan and Mattes trial.
• Effects in people on diabetes medicines. Most trials do not report how almonds interact with glucose-lowering medication.

Who the Research Raises Concerns For

• People with tree-nut allergy. Almonds are a tree nut, and allergy is a separate risk that these glucose trials were not designed to address.
• People watching calorie intake. Almonds are energy-dense. In the six-month Hunter trial, the almond group ate about 816 kJ more per day without a difference in weight, and in the Tan and Mattes trial people compensated by eating less of other foods, but these were study conditions. The trials that showed glucose benefits mostly used 20–60 g a day, with the almonds replacing other foods.
• Post-meal blood fats. In the Singapore almond-paste trial, adding almond paste and inulin to bread lowered glucose but raised post-meal triglycerides.
• People who expect almond milk or almond products to act like whole almonds. The one trial of almond milk in type 2 diabetes found no glycemic advantage over 2% cow's milk. Sweetened, chocolate-coated or honey-roasted almond products add sugar that none of these trials tested.
• People taking glucose-lowering medicines. The abstracts summarised here do not report on low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia); decisions about diet changes alongside diabetes medicines belong with a clinician.
• Aflatoxin. Like other nuts, almonds can carry mould toxins if poorly stored; see the site's page on aflatoxin and sourcing.

Connections

• Nuts
• Almonds
• Almond Benefits
• Almond Nutrient Profile
• Almonds: Heart Health & LDL
• Almonds: Magnesium & Bone
• Almonds: Vitamin E & Skin
• Almonds: Soaking & Phytic Acid
• Almonds: Weight, Satiety & Calories
• Almonds: Gut Microbiome
• Pistachios: Blood Sugar & Diabetes
• Walnuts: Blood Sugar & Diabetes
• Beans: Blood Sugar & Diabetes
• Type 2 Diabetes
• Prediabetes
• Insulin Resistance
• Metabolic Syndrome
• Hemoglobin A1C
• HOMA-IR
• Continuous Glucose Monitoring
• Magnesium
• Blood Sugar

Key Research Papers

1. Josse AR, Kendall CW, Augustin LS, et al. Almonds and postprandial glycemia--a dose-response study. Metabolism: clinical and experimental. 2007;56(3):400-4. PubMed PMID: 17292730
2. Jenkins DJ, Kendall CW, Josse AR, et al. Almonds decrease postprandial glycemia, insulinemia, and oxidative damage in healthy individuals. The Journal of nutrition. 2006;136(12):2987-92. PubMed PMID: 17116708
3. Cohen AE, Johnston CS. Almond ingestion at mealtime reduces postprandial glycemia and chronic ingestion reduces hemoglobin A(1c) in individuals with well-controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus. Metabolism: clinical and experimental. 2011;60(9):1312-7. PubMed PMID: 21489570
4. Mori AM, Considine RV, Mattes RD. Acute and second-meal effects of almond form in impaired glucose tolerant adults: a randomized crossover trial. Nutrition & metabolism. 2011;8(1):6. PubMed PMID: 21276226
5. Bi X, Yeo MTY, Jeyakumar Henry C. Almond paste and dietary fibre: a novel way to improve postprandial glucose and lipid profiles? International journal of food sciences and nutrition. 2022;73(8):1124-1131. PubMed PMID: 36329602
6. Dhaver S, Al-Badri M, Mitri J, et al. Effect of Almond Milk Versus Cow Milk on Postprandial Glycemia, Lipidemia, and Gastrointestinal Hormones in Patients with Overweight or Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial. Nutrients. 2025;17(13). PubMed PMID: 40647197
7. Gulati S, Misra A, Tiwari R, et al. Beneficial effects of premeal almond load on glucose profile on oral glucose tolerance and continuous glucose monitoring: randomized crossover trials in Asian Indians with prediabetes. European journal of clinical nutrition. 2023;77(5):586-595. PubMed PMID: 36732571
8. Gulati S, Misra A, Tiwari R, et al. Premeal almond load decreases postprandial glycaemia, adiposity and reversed prediabetes to normoglycemia: A randomized controlled trial. Clinical nutrition ESPEN. 2023;54:12-22. PubMed PMID: 36963852
9. Tan SY, Mattes RD. Appetitive, dietary and health effects of almonds consumed with meals or as snacks: a randomized, controlled trial. European journal of clinical nutrition. 2013;67(11):1205-14. PubMed PMID: 24084509
10. Wien M, Bleich D, Raghuwanshi M, et al. Almond consumption and cardiovascular risk factors in adults with prediabetes. Journal of the American College of Nutrition. 2010;29(3):189-97. PubMed PMID: 20833991
11. Chavez-Alfaro MA, Mensink RP, Gravesteijn E, et al. Effects of long-term almond consumption on markers for vascular function and cardiometabolic risk in men and women with prediabetes: results of a randomized, controlled cross-over trial. European journal of nutrition. 2024;64(1):7. PubMed PMID: 39546040
12. Choo JM, Tran CD, Luscombe-Marsh ND, et al. Almond consumption affects fecal microbiota composition, stool pH, and stool moisture in overweight and obese adults with elevated fasting blood glucose: A randomized controlled trial. Nutrition research (New York, N.Y.). 2021;85:47-59. PubMed PMID: 33444970
13. Li SC, Liu YH, Liu JF, et al. Almond consumption improved glycemic control and lipid profiles in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Metabolism: clinical and experimental. 2011;60(4):474-9. PubMed PMID: 20580779
14. Chen CM, Liu JF, Li SC, et al. Almonds ameliorate glycemic control in Chinese patients with better controlled type 2 diabetes: a randomized, crossover, controlled feeding trial. Nutrition & metabolism. 2017;14:51. PubMed PMID: 28785295
15. Gulati S, Misra A, Pandey RM. Effect of Almond Supplementation on Glycemia and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Asian Indians in North India with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A 24-Week Study. Metabolic syndrome and related disorders. 2017;15(2):98-105. PubMed PMID: 28051354
16. Hunter SR, Considine RV, Mattes RD. Almond consumption decreases android fat mass percentage in adults with high android subcutaneous adiposity but does not change HbA1c in a randomised controlled trial. The British journal of nutrition. 2022;127(6):850-861. PubMed PMID: 33955348
17. Carter S, Hill AM, Mead LC, et al. Almonds vs. carbohydrate snacks in an energy-restricted diet: Weight and cardiometabolic outcomes from a randomized trial. Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.). 2023;31(10):2467-2481. PubMed PMID: 37621033
18. Beaver LM, Leonard SW, Uesugi SL, et al. Beneficial changes in total cholesterol, LDL-C, biomarkers of intestinal inflammation, and vitamin E status in adults with metabolic syndrome consuming almonds as snack foods: a randomized controlled clinical trial. Nutrition research (New York, N.Y.). 2025;139:50-65. PubMed PMID: 40409246
19. Asbaghi O, Moodi V, Neisi A, et al. The effect of almond intake on glycemic control: A systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Phytotherapy research : PTR. 2022;36(1):395-414. PubMed PMID: 34841609
20. Moosavian SP, Rahimlou M, Rezaei Kelishadi M, et al. Effects of almond on cardiometabolic outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Phytotherapy research : PTR. 2022;36(5):1839-1853. PubMed PMID: 35443097
21. Ojo O, Wang XH, Ojo OO, et al. The Effects of Almonds on Gut Microbiota, Glycometabolism, and Inflammatory Markers in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials. Nutrients. 2021;13(10). PubMed PMID: 34684378
22. Morvaridzadeh M, Qorbani M, Shokati Eshkiki Z, et al. The effect of almond intake on cardiometabolic risk factors, inflammatory markers, and liver enzymes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Phytotherapy research : PTR. 2022;36(12):4325-4344. PubMed PMID: 36331011
23. Viguiliouk E, Kendall CW, Blanco Mejia S, et al. Effect of tree nuts on glycemic control in diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled dietary trials. PloS one. 2014;9(7):e103376. PubMed PMID: 25076495
24. Schwingshackl L, Hoffmann G, Lampousi AM, et al. Food groups and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies. European journal of epidemiology. 2017;32(5):363-375. PubMed PMID: 28397016
25. Banjarnahor RL, Javadi Arjmand E, Onni AT, et al. Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses on Consumption of Different Food Groups and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Metabolic Syndrome. The Journal of nutrition. 2025;155(5):1285-1297. PubMed PMID: 40122387
26. Grundy MM, Grassby T, Mandalari G, et al. Effect of mastication on lipid bioaccessibility of almonds in a randomized human study and its implications for digestion kinetics, metabolizable energy, and postprandial lipemia. The American journal of clinical nutrition. 2015;101(1):25-33. PubMed PMID: 25527747

PubMed Topic Searches

1. PubMed: almonds and post-meal glucose
2. PubMed: almond preload and prediabetes
3. PubMed: almonds in type 2 diabetes trials
4. PubMed: almonds, HbA1c and meta-analyses
5. PubMed: nut intake and diabetes risk in cohorts

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