The age-old saying 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away' could be replaced in favour of 'an avocado a day', following the publication of new research that shows the vegetable could help to prevent the development of heart disease.
Doctors from the US and Australia drew on the results of previous studies showing that avocados can assist in lowering cholesterol to analyse exactly how the high levels of monounsaturated fatty acids present in them can have this effect.
The team monitored 45 healthy, but overweight adults aged between 21 and 70 as they followed three diets over a five-week period. One of these consisted of 24 per cent fat, so was deemed as 'low-fat', while the other two were based around the consumption of 34 per cent of fats and were labelled 'moderate' for the purpose of the study.
These two higher-fat diets were almost identical, except one contained a Hass avocado each day. This form of the vegetable is smaller and darker, with bumpier green skin than the arguably more popular Florida varieties.
Participants were given a two-week break between the different diets, with blood samples being taken at the start and end of each.
It was found that all three of the diets resulted in levels of bad cholesterol being lowered, but this appeared to be much more significant among those eating the daily avocado.
Overall, participants following the avocado diet saw their bad cholesterol levels reduced by 13.5 mg, in comparison to the 8.3 mg and 7.4 mg decreases of those on the moderate and low-fat diets respectively.
Therefore, this indicates that eating an avocado each day could help to prevent heart disease, as this is often the result of high levels of bad cholesterol.
Distinguished professor of nutrition at University Park in Pennsylvania Penny M Kris-Etherton commented: 'This was a controlled feeding study, but that is not the real world, so it is more of a proof-of-concept investigation.
'We need to focus on getting people to eat a healthy diet that includes avocados and other food sources of better fats.'
She suggested a number of ways in which avocados could be incorporated into a person's diet, including as a sandwich filling, as part of a salad or as an accompaniment to vegetables.
