Almonds are available throughout the year to make a healthy and tasty addition to both sweet and savory dishes. Almonds are high in monounsaturated fats, the same type of health-promoting fats as are found in olive oil, which have been associated with reduced risk of heart disease.

In addition to their cholesterol-lowering effects, almonds' ability to reduce heart disease risk may also be partly due to the antioxidant action of the vitamin E found in the almonds, as well as to the LDL-lowering effect of almonds' monounsaturated fats. New research on almonds adds to the growing evidence that eating whole foods is the best way to promote optimal health.

The flavonoids found in almond skins team up with the vitamin E found in their meat to more than double the antioxidant punch. shows a study published in the Journal of Nutrition. Twenty potent antioxidant flavonoids were identified in almond skins in this study, some of which are well known as major contributors to the health benefits derived from other foods, such as the catechins found in green tea, and naringenin, which is found in grapefruit.