The Heart Health Benefits Of Avocados

Love avocados? They may love your heart back.

New research suggests routinely eating avocados may protect a person's heart.

People who ate half an avocado twice a week had a 16% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 21% lower risk of heart disease, compared with people who never or rarely ate the fruit, researchers found. Funding for the study came from the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

This type of observational study cannot prove definitively that eating avocados lowered the risk for cardiovascular disease, only that there might be a connection, researchers cautioned. 

Key Takeaways: Avocados In A Heart-Healthy Diet

• Regular avocado consumption may support heart health. Research found that people who ate at least one avocado per week had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease compared to those who rarely ate avocados. 
• Avocados are packed with heart-healthy nutrients. They provide fiber, potassium, vitamins and monounsaturated fats, which may help improve cholesterol levels and support overall cardiovascular health. 
• Swapping avocados for foods high in saturated fat may offer additional benefits. Replacing foods like butter, cheese and processed meats with avocado was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. 

Heart Benefits Of Avocados

Avocados are rich in a number of components linked with good heart health, including:

• Dietary fiber
• Unsaturated fats like monounsaturated fat (healthy fats), which can help promote a healthy blood lipid profile, a measure of types of fat in the blood. A 2015 study published in the Journal of American Heart Association found that eating one avocado a day as part of a moderate-fat diet resulted in lower "bad" LDL cholesterol.

Avocados are also naturally cholesterol-free.

Nutritional Benefits of Avocados

Avocados are a good source of many important nutrients, including:

• Vitamin C
• Vitamin E
• Potassium
• Vitamin K
• Magnesium
• Folate

Research shows people who eat avocados are less likely to develop metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that can increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes.

Avocados are high in carotenoids, the antioxidant plant pigments responsible for bright hues in fruit and vegetables. Studies show two of the carotenoids in avocados, lutein and zeaxanthin, could help reduce the risk of eye disease. Research also has shown adding avocados to other vegetables, say in a salad or salsa, helps the body absorb more nutrients.

But avocados are not calorie-free. A medium avocado averages about 240 calories and 24 grams of fat, according to the California Avocado Commission. Yet, unlike red meat or cookies, avocados are a source of healthy fat that can be eaten in place of "bad" saturated fat in a typical diet.

Smart Swapping With Avocados

The study also found that replacing half a serving daily of margarine, butter, egg, yogurt, cheese or processed meats with the same amount of avocado lowered the risk for cardiovascular disease by 16% to 22%, Pacheco said.

Substituting half a serving a day of avocado for olive oil, nuts or other plant oils showed no additional benefit, the researchers noted. They also found the risk for stroke was not changed, regardless of how much avocado one ate.

"These findings further substantiate the evidence on the replacement of certain spreads and saturated fat-containing foods, such as cheese and processed meats, with a plant-sourced fat such as avocado, which for the most part, is a well-accepted and popular food," Pacheco said.

"Additionally, the results from this study are akin to those of other monounsaturated fatty acid-rich foods, such as olive oil and nuts," she said.

"This study provides further evidence that the intake of plant-sourced unsaturated fats can improve diet quality and is an important component in cardiovascular disease prevention in the general population," said lead researcher Lorena Pacheco, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

Avocado Ideas

While avocado is best known for guacamole or being slathered on toast, avocados can be tossed into salads, smoothies, dressings, omelets and just about anything. Like this pasta sauce.