Heart Health Benefits of Avocado – Portfolio Diet Gems

Is the avocado a fruit or a vegetable? Whichever category you decide, avocados have been shown to be beneficial for heart health. In this video, I'll go into three ways that avocados could help to reduce heart disease. Hi, I'm Chong, a qualified nutritionist with a Master's in Nutritional Sciences, here to share with you the latest evidence-based findings on healthy eating and living. The World Health Organization recommends eating at least 400 grams of fruits and vegetables each day to minimize the risk of developing chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease. This corresponds to at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, and the avocado fits nicely into this recommendation, whether as a fruit, vegetable, or both. Just to make sure everyone starts off with the same measure, one serving of avocado as mentioned in the studies today refers to half a medium avocado. This study looked at 30 years of data from about 100,000 women and men from the Trusted Nurses Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, and found that eating more than 2 servings per week of avocados compared to eating less than 1 serving per month was associated with an overall 16% lower risk of having a heart attack or stroke, and a 21% lower risk of specifically having a heart attack. So, what are three ways that avocados have been shown to achieve these beneficial cardiovascular outcomes? Number one, avocados have been shown to lower LDL cholesterol. In this randomized controlled trial, 45 participants with a baseline LDL cholesterol of about 128 mg per deciliter used themselves as controls and followed one of three cholesterol-lowering, low-saturated-fat diets. The first intervention was a lower-fat diet with 24% total fat. The second was a medium-fat diet with 34% total fat and no avocados. And the third was an avocado diet with also 34% total fat and 1 avocado per day. Each intervention was followed for 5 weeks. At the end of the study, the participants' LDL cholesterol was significantly lowered by about 5% to 6% to 121 mg per deciliter on the lower-fat diet and 119 mg per deciliter on the medium-fat diet. However, on the avocado diet, the participants' LDL cholesterol levels were lowered to 114 mg per deciliter or by about 10% since the fat profiles of the medium-fat and avocado diets were matched with similar levels of monounsaturated fatty acids. The researchers hypothesized that the additional benefits of the avocado diet must be coming from other beneficial components such as phytosterols and soluble fiber. We've discussed the LDL-lowering benefits of these phytonutrients in the video on the portfolio diet, and I'll drop a link for that video in the description as well. Before I get into the second and third ways that avocados have been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, if you learned something in this video, do help me by hitting the subscribe and the like buttons and turn on the notifications and drop in the comments your favorite way of eating an avocado. You could also check out this other video where I deep dive into how oranges are also packed with amazing phytonutrients that have been shown to lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Make sure to watch till the end as well as I'll be throwing in some bonus content. Number 2, Avocados have been associated with a lower risk of developing high blood pressure. In this study using data from Mexico, the birthplace of the avocado, data from about 70,000 female teachers were analyzed, and eating 5 or more servings of avocados per week compared to less than 2 to 3 avocados per month was associated with a 17% lower risk of developing high blood pressure. This heart-healthy effect has been attributed to many of the heart-healthy components in avocados, including the phytosterols, fiber, the monounsaturated fat content that is similar to olive oil, as well as their high levels of potassium. One serving, or half an avocado, contains around 350mg of potassium, which is about 10 to 15% of one's daily requirements. Increased intake of potassium has been shown to reduce blood pressure. In this meta-analysis of 21 randomized controlled trials, participants who achieved intakes of between 3,500 to 4,700mg of potassium per day were found to reduce their systolic blood pressure by about 7mm mercury. This formed the basis for the World Health Organization's recommendation that adults should consume at least 3,500mg per day of potassium from food sources to reduce blood pressure and the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Number 3, the high level of monounsaturated fats, or MUFAs, in avocados is another important nutrient that could help to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. In this study using data from 100,000 participants collected over a 22-year period, highest consumption of MUFAs from plant sources compared to lowest consumption was associated with a 16% lower risk of dying from all causes. In a further substitution analysis, when 5% of total daily energy from saturated fats and MUFAs from animal sources was replaced by plant MUFAs, the risk of having a heart attack was found to be lower by 16%. One serving, or half an avocado, contains about 6.5g of MUFAs, so based on a 2000-calorie-per-day diet, this amount of MUFAs would account for about 3% of total daily energy intake. So, to achieve 5% of total daily energy intake from plant MUFAs, you could simply have half an avocado, together with a handful of nuts each day. Before I dive into the bonus content, if you've not already done so, help me hit the like and subscribe buttons and turn on the notifications. Also, share this video with someone who might benefit from getting more healthy fats from plant foods such as avocados. Besides heart health, what other health benefits have avocados been associated with? The unique high fat content of avocados might be a key factor in its association with improved cognitive ability. Lutein, a carotenoid that's related to vitamin A, is important to both eye health and brain health. Even though avocados do not contain as much lutein as compared to other green leafy vegetables like kale and spinach, avocados' high monounsaturated fat content appears to promote a greater absorption of lutein. In this 6-month randomized controlled trial, 40 participants were randomized to either consuming 1 medium avocado per day versus 1 medium potato or 1 cup of chipped peas per day. At the end of 6 months, the participants in the avocado group had their blood lutein levels increased by 25% compared to 15% in the control group. And more importantly, the macular pigment density, which is a biomarker of the amount of lutein in the brain, was increased by 25% in the avocado group but was not significantly increased in the control group. This increase in macular pigment density was further correlated to the improvements that were seen in 2 of the cognitive tests for the avocado group. What this study again demonstrates is the fact that not all fats are created equal in terms of health outcomes. And fats from plant sources, including monounsaturated fats found in avocados, as well as polyunsaturated fats that we have discussed previously, are consistently found to be associated and even causative for healthful outcomes. In the meantime, if you've not already watched these other videos related to heart health, check them out and I'll see you next time.