Almonds and inflammation markers in adults
What it found
In adults, eating almonds lowered interleukin-6, a marker of inflammation, but made no clear difference to C-reactive protein.
The authors looked at eleven trials.
What they found
Studies in people
Interleukin-6 lowered
Across the pooled trials, almond consumption significantly lowered interleukin-6 in adults compared with the comparison groups.
CRP no clear change
Overall, almond consumption did not significantly change C-reactive protein levels in adults.
CRP in some groups
In some subgroups, such as crossover trials, studies shorter than 84 days, studies with at least 52 people, and studies in Europe or in at-risk adults, almonds did significantly lower C-reactive protein.
Dose not linked
Higher almond doses were not linked to bigger changes in either C-reactive protein or interleukin-6.
Other findings
Study quality varied
Of the eleven trials, one was rated good quality, five fair and five weak. Many had problems with blinding, allocation concealment or incomplete outcome reporting.
What the authors conclude
- They say the overall findings support the beneficial effect of almond consumption on serum interleukin-6.
- They note that almond consumption non-significantly reduced serum C-reactive protein, but it seems almonds significantly reduced C-reactive protein in studies on at-risk or unhealthy populations.
How it was done
Earlier studies on whether almonds reduce inflammatory markers gave conflicting results, and a previous review missed some studies and included others without proper comparison groups or almond doses.
They pooled eleven randomised trials with 791 adults, lasting 8 to 28 weeks, where people ate 42 to 85 grams of almonds a day. The trials included healthy adults, people who were overweight or obese, people with type 2 diabetes or impaired fasting glucose, and people with coronary artery disease.
What it can’t tell you
- The trials were mostly short, lasting 8 to 28 weeks, so they cannot show what happens over years.
- The review could not separate effects in men and women because there were not enough single-sex studies.
- The effect of confounding factors such as diet, lifestyle and almond variety remained unclear.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- Conflict of interest None.
- Authors work at
- Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences, Iran; Iran University of Medical Sciences, Iran
The paper
- Title
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of almond effect on C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 in adults
- Type
- Systematic review and meta-analysisThe authors follow a set, published method to find every relevant study, then combine the numbers from them into one result.
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Hariri M, Amirkalali B, Baradaran HR, Gholami A (2023). A systematic review and meta-analysis of almond effect on C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 in adults. Complementary therapies in medicine. doi:10.1016/j.ctim.2022.102911Free full textPubMed 36535459DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error