The Mediterranean diet, essentially composed of fruits and vegetables, legumes, fish and vegetable oils, is widely recognized as a protective diet for the cardiovascular system. And certain foods in this diet sometimes offer specific or greater benefits than others. A large American study shows that the avocado alone has significant benefits.
The researchers followed a large cohort of more than 68,000 women from the Nurses’ Health Study and more than 41,000 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study for 30 years. All were healthy at the start of the study. During the work, 9,185 coronary heart diseases and 5,290 strokes were documented.
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Replace butter and cheese with avocado?
By comparing with a detailed analysis of everyone’s diet collected by questionnaire every four years, the scientists calculated that participants consuming at least one whole avocado per week had a 16% reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, compared to those who did not. ‘by consuming only rarely. The protective effect was even greater for coronary disease with a 21% reduction in risk.
Avocados contain dietary fiber, monounsaturated fats (the good fats) and other components associated with good cardiovascular health.
In addition, replacing a portion of egg, yogurt or cheese with the same amount of avocado would be associated with a decrease in cardiovascular risk of 16 to 22%. A good idea that is easy to implement to improve your diet: think about replacing a food made from animal fat with avocado.
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