People who eat almonds every day are less likely to have sore muscles

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The anti-inflammatory effects of almonds may help with muscle soreness and fatigue after a strenuous exercise session says a new study.

Eating almonds every day could be the ideal New Year’s resolution for those who exercise regularly. Eating almonds regularly can help relieve pain and stiffness after an intense workout when the body is not used to such stress. This is according to a small study published in Frontiers in Nutrition.

The clinical trial involved 38 men and 26 women between 30 and 65 without regular strength training. About half were randomly assigned to the almond diet group and given 57 grams of almonds daily. The other half was placed in the control group, which ate a same-calorie granola bar daily. The researchers took blood and urine samples before and after the four-week supplementation. Performance measurements included a 30-second anaerobic Wingate test, a 50-meter shuttle run, and vertical jump, a bench press and leg-back strength exercises. Additional blood and urine samples were collected immediately after this 90-minute exercise and daily after that for four days. After each blood draws, participants completed the Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaire to quantify their mental state and rated their muscle soreness on a scale of 1 to 10.

Nieman and his colleagues concluded that daily consumption of almonds leads to a change in metabolism, reducing inflammation and oxidative stress from exercise and allowing the body to recover more quickly.

For example, those who ate 57 grams of almonds every day for a month had more recovery-promoting fat in their blood after a single hard exercise session than a group that ate a granola bar with the same number of calories. This molecule, oxylipin (oxidized fat), is synthesized by brown adipose tissue from linoleic acid and positively affects metabolic health and energy regulation. They also reported having less fatigue and tension, better leg and back strength, and less muscle damage after exercise than subjects in the control group,” David C. Nieman, co-author of the study, said in a news release.