Avocado eaters' health fared best in new low-fat diet study, which involved overweight or obese participants
Eating an avocado every day could significantly lower your cholesterol, new findings published in the Journal of the American Heart Association claim.
Researchers put 45 obese or overweight adults on an average American diet (which tends to be heavy in saturated fat and carbohydrates) for two weeks.
Then, they switched them to a low fat (24 per cent fat) or one of two moderate fat (34 per cent fat) diets for five weeks. One of the moderate fat diets contained healthy fats like sunflower and canola oil; the other got the majority of its fat from one whole avocado per day.
Each of the new diets improved participants' LDL cholesterol, which is the worst kind of cholesterol, likely because all three were significantly lower in saturated fat than the average Western diet. But the avocado eaters fared the best: their LDL cholesterol dropped 13 points, compared to around 8 points for people on the low-fat or avocado-free moderate-fat diets.
A statement from the research team, comprised of PHD graduates from universities in the US and Australia, said: "Our results demonstrate that avocados have beneficial effects on cardio‐metabolic risk factors that extend beyond their heart‐healthy fatty acid profile."
