Texas Tech researcher Kristina Petersen is available to discuss their benefits ahead of National Avocado Day.
Pitch
What's not to like about avocados? As any Tex-Mex aficionado will tell you, guacamole alone is practically enough of a reason to love this green fruit, but there are also plenty of health benefits to go around. And with National Avocado Day (July 31) right around the corner, there's no better time to celebrate them.
A new study on the health effects of avocados, the largest and most extensive to date, found that eating one avocado per day led to a small decrease in unhealthy cholesterol levels and improved the overall quality of participants' diets. Combined, these findings have important implications for conditions like heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. The study was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Texas Tech University's Kristina Petersen, an assistant professor of nutritional sciences and one of the study's authors, is available to discuss the findings and the dietary benefits of avocados.
Expert
Kristina Petersen, assistant professor of nutritional sciences, (806) 834-2164 or kristina.petersen@ttu.edu
Talking points
- The study found that eating one avocado a day for six months had no effect on belly
fat, liver fat or waist circumference in people with overweight or obesity. This means
the extra calories from the avocado did not contribute to body weight or abdominal
fat levels.
- A daily avocado did lead to a slight decrease in the levels of total cholesterol (2.9
mg/dL) and LDL cholesterol (2.5 mg/dL), the main source of cholesterol buildup and
blockages in the arteries.
- Eating avocados daily improved the overall quality of the participants' diets by eight points on a 100-point scale.
