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Eating two servings of avocados a week is not only pleasing to the palate but can also protect our hearts. This has been verified by a study that shows that a weekly consumption of this food is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
Avocados contain dietary fiber, unsaturated fats, especially monounsaturated fats (healthy fats), and other favorable components that have been associated with good cardiovascular health. Clinical trials have found that avocados have a positive impact on cardiovascular risk factors, including high cholesterol.
The researchers believe this is the first large prospective study to support the positive association between higher avocado consumption and fewer cardiovascular events, such as coronary heart disease and stroke.
The research has been published in the “Journal of the American Heart Association”.
“Our study provides new evidence that the intake of unsaturated fats of plant origin can improve the quality of the diet and is an important component in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases,” says Lorena S. Pacheco, lead author of the study and researcher at the Harvard TH School Chan School of Public Health in Boston.
For 30 years, the researchers followed more than 68,780 women (ages 30 to 55) from the Nurses’ Health Study and more than 41,700 men (ages 40 to 75) from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. .
The researchers documented 9,185 coronary heart disease events and 5,290 strokes during more than 30 years of follow-up.
The study assessed the participants’ diet through dietary questionnaires given at the start of the study and every four years thereafter.
In addition, avocado intake was calculated from a questionnaire item that asked about the amount consumed and the frequency. One serving was equal to half an avocado or half a cup of avocado.
The analysis found that study participants who ate at least two servings of avocado a week had a 16% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 21% lower risk of coronary heart disease, compared to those who never or rarely ate avocados.
The study aligns with the American Heart Association guidelines that recommend following the Mediterranean diet.
Now, this is an observational study, so direct cause and effect cannot be proven. Two other limitations of the research involve data collection and the composition of the study population. Finally, the participants were predominantly white nurses and health professionals, so these results may not apply to other groups.
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