Keeps the cardiologist away!
One recent study on avocados is worth munching on (Har!). Half an avocado contains 20% of your recommended daily intake of fiber, 10% potassium, 5% magnesium, and 15% of folate. It also contains 7.5 grams of monounsaturated and 1.5 grams of polyunsaturated fat. I’ve discussed these fats here.
It’s a bird…it’s a plane…no, it’s a super food!
The study followed over 100,000 people without heart disease for 30 years! The scientists wanted to know if eating avocados prevented heart attacks. They also wanted to know what would happen to heart attacks if people ate avocados instead of margarine, butter, yogurt, cheese or processed meats.
What did they find? They found that some people are crazy about avocados! Seriously, who eats an avocado every day!
Okay, they found that regularly eating one whole avocado over a week, led to a 16% lower risk of having heart attacks.
They also found that if avocado was substituted for mayonnaise, margarine, butter, eggs, yogurt, cheese, or processed meats that heart attack risk was reduced by 19% to 31%. Shocking since most of my experience with substitutes (teachers) was this:
Interestingly, substituting avocado with olive oil, canola oil or nuts did not change heart attack risk.
So good news for avocado lovers. In conclusion, an avocado a week keeps the cardiologist asleep.