Avocados can play a role in lowering bad cholesterol, according to a study recently published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
The research, conducted at Penn State University and underwritten by the Hass Avocado Board, indicated that a moderate-fat diet that includes one fresh avocado daily showed improvements in certain blood lipid markers.
“The results of this study suggest that the monounsaturated fat, fiber, phytosterols and other dietary bioactives in avocados may provide greater benefits to cardiovascular disease risk factors compared to a calorie-matched low-fat diet,” said Penny Kris-Etherton, Ph.D., R.D., lead author of the study and an expert in cardiovascular nutrition.
What you need to know
- Researchers studied 45 participants—both men and women —who were overweight or obese, but otherwise healthy.
- The study evaluated whether incorporating one fresh avocado into the diet daily for five weeks could reduce bad cholesterol levels more than a diet that incorporated monounsaturated fat from vegetable oils high in oleic acid as a substitute for one fresh avocado. The diets were matched for calories and macronutrients, but not for fiber, phytosterols or other bioactives.
- Researchers found that the avocado diet significantly improved the ratio of good cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein or HDL cholesterol) to overall cholesterol, and at the same time improved the ratio of good cholesterol to bad cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein or LDL cholesterol). The low-fat diet did not reduce these ratios, and the reduction with the avocado diet was significantly greater than with the moderate-fat diet.
- Additionally, the avocado diet achieved the greatest reduction in LDL cholesterol when compared to the low-fat diet and moderate-fat diet without avocados.
- Keep in mind, the avocado diet provided 35% more fiber than the diets without avocados.
- Researchers also cautioned that the results were based on the consumption of an entire avocado a day, five days a week, which is five times the recommended serving size. Additional research is needed to determine whether the results could be replicated with a smaller amount of avocado.