New research suggests that there may be more than one reason to add almonds to one’s daily skin care routine. A new study by researchers at the University of California, Davis found that eating almonds daily in place of typical calorie-matched snacks improved measures of both wrinkle severity and skin pigmentation in postmenopausal women. The study was funded by the Almond Board of California.
In this 6-month randomized controlled trial, 49 healthy postmenopausal women with Fitzpatrick skin type 1 or 2 completed the study. Researchers found a statistically significant reduction in wrinkle severity in the group consuming almonds: at 16 weeks, there was a reduction of 15% and at 24 weeks, a reduction of 16%. There was also a statistically significant decrease in overall facial pigment intensity in the almond group.
Dr. Raja Sivamani, dermatologist and lead researcher of this study said, “Daily consumption of almonds may be an effective means of improving the appearance of facial wrinkles and skin tone among postmenopausal women with Fitzpatrick skin types I and II. Our findings emphasize the need to look at almonds as a whole food with multiple nutrient components. Almonds are high in alpha-tocopherol which has antioxidant functions, and may be partially responsible for the effects that we see in both wrinkles and skin tone in postmenopausal women.” Dr. Geetika Mittal Gupta (Dermatologist and Cosmetologist), Ritika Samaddar (Regional Head-Dietetics, Max Healthcare Delhi) and Sheela Krishnaswamy (Nutrition and Wellness Consultant) also agreed with the findings of the study.
