Substituting Almonds for Saturated Fatty Acid Sources and Other Foods in the Typical American Diet Can Achieve the Dietary Guidelines for Americans’ Nutrient Recommendations

The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend reducing consumption of certain nutrients such as saturated fat and cholesterol and increasing consumption of some nutrients such as vitamin E, magnesium and dietary fiber. Almonds are a low‐saturated fat source of dietary fiber, vitamin E and magnesium. This analysis was conducted to demonstrate the effects on nutrient intake of substituting an equicaloric load of almonds for primary saturated fat sources in a typical American dietary pattern. A 2000‐calorie meal pattern from the MyPyramid dietary guidance was altered to reflect typical consumption patterns without almonds and then substituting 220 calories of almonds for an equicaloric amount of other foods including saturated fat sources. The control and almond menus were analyzed using FoodWorks 7.0 (The Nutrition Company, Long Valley, NJ). Percent change in nutrients was calculated for each of the seven daily sets of dietary patterns and averaged for the seven days. The almond substitution reduced saturated fat (‐30%) and cholesterol (‐26%) and increased levels of vitamin E (296%), magnesium (265%) and dietary fiber (42%). The improvements in nutrient intake support a recommendation for consuming almonds in place of saturated fat sources in future dietary guidance. Further analyses will include serving‐size based substitutions and other nuts. Support: Almond Board of California