Avocado may reduce the risk of heart disease – new research

According to, eating more than two servings of avocado per week can reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease by 16%. New research..

Researchers at Harvard University analyzed data from two large US studies: a follow-up study of medical professionals and a health survey of nurses. Between 1986 and 2016, researchers tracked more than 41,000 men from a medical professional follow-up survey (ages 40-75) and more than 68,000 women (ages 30-55) from a nurse health survey. did.

To participate in the study, participants had to be free of cancer, coronary heart disease, and stroke. Every two years thereafter, I answered a questionnaire about health and lifestyle. And every four years, they answered a questionnaire about what they ate.

The researchers recorded the number of cases of cardiovascular disease, including coronary heart disease and stroke, that occurred during the 30-year study period. People who ate more than two servings of avocado each week had a 16% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 21% lower risk of coronary heart disease than those who avoided or rarely ate fruit. rice field. (Avocado serving is defined as half of avocado – about 80g.)

Replacing half a day with eggs, butter, cheese, margarine, or processed lean meat with the same amount of avocado reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by 16% to 22%. However, replacing the same amount of olive oil, nuts, and other vegetable oils with avocado for a day and a half had no additional benefit.

The strength of this study is the long follow-up period with over 110,000 participants. The researchers also took into account many things that could affect the outcome, such as whether people smoked, weight, degree of activity, medications taken, and so on.

However, one of the major limitations is that most of the participants were white medical professionals. In other words, the findings may not apply to other population groups. Racial and ethnic differences in cardiovascular disease are not found in this study.Still, people in ethnic minority groups are experiencing a disproportionately heavy burden. Cardiovascular disease..

Another limitation is that dietary information is self-reported. Participants may underreport or overreport their avocado intake. After all, who can remember exactly what you ate last month, not to mention the last four years?

This type of study is an observational study. In other words, eating avocado cannot prove to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. It can only show a likely (“statistically significant”) link between eating avocado and reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Overall diet is important

In this study, researchers found that people with higher avocado intake had higher dietary qualities and ate more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nuts. This shows that a single food like avocado is not the solution to prevent heart disease. However, eating an overall healthy and balanced diet that includes a variety of nutritious foods is the key to promoting heart health.

Overall dietary quality is important and it is Equally important To reduce salt, foods and drinks that are high in free sugars and fatty foods.

There are some promising findings in this study that encourage the addition of avocado to the diet, but not everyone likes the taste of this fruit. Also, regular purchases can be expensive, and you may be concerned about how to purchase them. They are sustainable..

Alternatively, you can consider including seeds such as peanut butter, almonds, cashew nuts, hazelnuts, peanuts, rapeseed oil, olive oil, olives, pumpkins and sesame seeds in your diet. Because they are also an excellent source of unsaturated fats. Healthy fat found in avos.

A healthy diet is important to prevent heart disease, but it is also active, does not smoke, and can reduce alcohol intake. Helps maintain heart healthThis should not be overlooked.