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Avocados are well-known as one of the healthiest foods. Labeled the ‘wonder food’ by diet experts worldwide they are recommended with any eating plan. While the full spectrum of avocado benefits is quite extensive, recent studies focused on avocados’ power to reduce coronary illness if part of daily meals. Research shows avocado consumption has a positive impact on cholesterol levels.
Popular for monounsaturated fatty acid components, past research have demonstrated that consistently eating avocados can decrease cholesterol levels. However, this new research is focused on other avocado health benefits, besides the unsaturated fats approach.
One of the study authors, Penny M. Kris-Etherton, Distinguished Professor of Nutrition, clarified that consuming an avocado a day while following a moderate-fat eating plan can improve health results. More exactly, avocado offers extra low-density lipoproteins and an avocado diet leads to reduced cardiovascular disease risk.
Kris-Etherton and her group of specialists examined three separate eating plans that were considered to treat bad cholesterol and reduce it. The scientists analyzed a lower-fat eating regimen with only 24% fat composition and two moderate-fat weight control plans allowing for a 34% fat intake.
Researchers tested the diets on 45 study participants, aged 21 to 70. All the subjects were overweight with a generally good health. The research found that all three eating regimens brought down bad cholesterol rates and the cholesterol in general. However, the scientists uncovered that the avocado diet was more successful in reducing bad and general cholesterol levels as compared to the other two eating plans. Those undergoing the avocado diet showed a 13.5 mg/dl drop in bad cholesterol while those following the other two diets displayed only an 8.3 mg/dl and 7.4 mg/dl drop.
Researcher Kris-Etherton said that an easy way to incorporate avocados in the everyday eating habits is to place it into sandwiches or in greens.
The specialists said that they will have to continue investigations to further discover avocado benefits and how it can influence the high-thickness lipoproteins, labeled “the good cholesterol”.
The study that revealed avocado’s power to reduce heart disease risks was distributed in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Monounsaturated fatty acids can also be found in Canola oil, almonds, cashews, macadamias and pecans but also in olive oil olives and shelled nut oil. However, these should be consumed moderately because even if they provide good cholesterol they still have high caloric values. Also, only about 6 percent of calories ought to originate from saturated fatty acids, which are found in butter, rich meat and cheese.
Image Source: Health Monitor
