A diet with an intake of 43g/day of almonds (almond diet) was compared with a diet of the same caloric content, but without almonds (control diet) in participants with elevated LDL “bad” cholesterol during 6 weeks. The results showed that the almond diet increased α-1 HDL when compared with the control diet. So the study concluded that incorporating almonds in a lower-saturated fat diet may help improve HDL cholesterol in normal-weight participants. Therefore, substituting almonds for a carbohydrate-rich snack within a lower-saturated-fat diet may help to maintain favorable circulating HDL cholesterol in normal-weight individuals with elevated LDL cholesterol.
Berryman, Claire E., Jennifer A. Fleming, and Penny M. Kris-Etherton. "Inclusion of Almonds in a Cholesterol-Lowering Diet Improves Plasma HDL Subspecies and Cholesterol Efflux to Serum in Normal-Weight Individuals with Elevated LDL Cholesterol." The Journal of Nutrition (2017): jn245126.