February may be designated as Heart Health Month, but health professionals know that preventive heart health practices matter every day of the year. Avocados encompass what it means to fuel your clients’ hearts well. Certain types of fatty acids and other nutrients influence blood fats, blood pressure, and weight management and reduce the risk of heart disease.
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States. Every 34 seconds, someone dies of cardiovascular disease, and every 40 seconds, someone has a heart attack. Fortunately, educating your clients about the benefits of nutrition for heart health, and teaching them how to use fruits like avocados, can make a difference.
What Causes Heart Disease?
Primary risk factors for heart disease include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking. Conditions like type 2 diabetes and obesity, and habits like excessive alcohol intake and a sedentary lifestyle, can also increase risk.
How to Reduce Heart Disease Risk
An active lifestyle, not smoking, stress management, and good nutrition can dramatically reduce heart disease statistics. Help your clients design diets based on minimally processed foods and nutrient-dense plants, like avocados.
Avocados For Heart Health
A heart-healthy food plan incorporates a balance of nutrients from an array of foods.
Check out why avocados are a
great fruit to make the list
Avocados may help support healthy blood lipids
Monounsaturated fat (MUFA) can help reduce bad cholesterol levels in your blood, which can lower your risk of heart disease and stroke. One-third of a medium avocado contains 5 grams of MUFA. Avocados are a great substitute for foods high in saturated fat.
including phenolic compounds, carotenoids, and phytosterols. Avocados are the richest known fruit source of phytosterols, important cholesterol-lowering compounds when the phytosterols are consumed twice daily within a low saturated fat and cholesterol diet. One-third of a medium avocado contains 38 milligrams of the phytosterol, beta-sitosterol.
One review and meta-analysis of 202 participants and 7 studies found that those who ate 1-3.7 avocados daily had lower cholesterol levels than those who did not eat them. Furthermore, avocado intake was associated with increased HDL-cholesterol and decreased ratios of total cholesterol to HDL-C and LDL-C to HDL-C.
Only studies of at least three weeks in length were included in the analysis. This study was funded by the Avocado Nutrition Center and includes limitations such as a small number of subjects reporting data with a wide range of participant characteristics. This study type does not demonstrate cause and effect. Although more research is needed to generalize the results to all people, the findings support the growing body of evidence demonstrating avocados as a heart-healthy fruit.
Avocados may help support better weight management
Many people at a higher risk for heart disease are also overweight or obese. Healthy eating patterns associated with better weight management include more fruits, vegetables, and unsaturated fats than most people eat. Avocados are a fruit and contribute 6 grams of unsaturated fats.
In a study of 105 overweight and obese adults, researchers found that adding one avocado per day for 12 weeks was associated with less visceral fat among women compared to those who didn’t add it. The Avocado Nutrition Center funded the study, and although more research is needed to generalize the results to all people, the study adds to a growing body of evidence studying the weight management effects of eating avocados.
Avocados may help support vascular health
In a randomized, controlled, three-arm, six-hour postprandial, cross-over study published in the journal Nutrients, funded by the Avocado Nutrition Center, researchers examined the effects of replacing carbohydrate energy in meals with a half or whole avocado on markers of metabolic and vascular health in 31 participants.
They found that compared to the energy-matched, low-fat, high-carbohydrate, controlled meal, overweight and obese adults who consumed an avocado as part of a breakfast meal showed improved flow-mediated dilation, a marker of endothelial function, and improved glycemic and lipoprotein profiles. These conclusions cannot be generalized to all populations, over longer periods, or about other quantities of avocado.
Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables may help control weight and blood pressure. Avocados are a healthy, nutrient-dense fruit, and a DASH diet can incorporate them well. Plus, one serving of avocados provides 6% of the daily needs for potassium, and a potassium rich diet may offset the negative effects of sodium on blood pressure.
Encourage Your Clients to Try Avocado in Place of High Saturated Fat Foods
Teach your clients how to use avocados as spreads and dips, in homemade salad dressings or puddings, on toast, or in soups and burritos. These swaps may help reduce saturated fat and calorie intake while supporting heart health.
