Almonds have been cultivated in Central and Southwest Asia for over three thousand years, among the earliest domesticated tree nuts in human history, and carry deep symbolic significance across multiple ancient cultures — referenced repeatedly in the Hebrew Bible (Aaron's rod famously blossoms and bears almonds), found among grave goods in Egyptian tombs including that of Tutankhamun, and associated with fertility and good fortune in Greek and Roman wedding traditions, a symbolism that persists today in candy-coated Jordan almonds given at modern weddings.
Almonds traveled along ancient trade routes into the Mediterranean, where they became deeply embedded in the cuisines of Spain, Italy, and Greece, and eventually to California, which — thanks to a combination of climate and 20th-century agricultural development — now produces the vast majority of the world's almond supply, a striking geographic shift from the crop's Central Asian origins.
Almond has an unusually large and consistent evidence base for cholesterol management, closely paralleling walnut's evidence profile elsewhere in this Atlas. The largest and most recent meta-analysis, published in 2025, pooled 36 publications and 2,485 participants, finding almond consumption significantly reduced LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, and several other lipid markers, with effects holding up even when the analysis was restricted to only the highest-quality studies. This large, recent finding is consistent with earlier independent meta-analyses: an 18-trial review (837 participants) and a separate 13-trial review (491 participants) both found significant reductions in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol, with no significant effect on HDL cholesterol across any of the reviews.
Subgroup analysis in the largest review found effects were most pronounced at doses of at least 45g per day (roughly 1.5 ounces) and in people with already-elevated cholesterol at baseline — a sensible, biologically plausible pattern. The consistency of direction and effect size across multiple large, independent meta-analyses spanning nearly a decade is what earns almond a "Strong" rating alongside walnut as one of the best-evidenced foods in this Atlas.
Eaten raw or roasted, ground into flour or paste (marzipan, almond butter), or pressed into oil; almond milk is a more recent commercial innovation.