A Daily Avocado Habit Is Linked to Better Food Choices, Study Finds

Avocados have been a fan-favorite fruit for years, with Americans consuming an average of more than eight pounds of the fleshy produce annually. But while avocados are generally considered a health-forward food, research suggests that eating avocados may help you make smart choices in other areas of your diet.

The randomized controlled trial, which was published in the journal Current Developments in Nutrition, split more than 1,000 adults with obesity into two groups. One group ate an avocado a day for 26 weeks, while the other followed their usual diet for the study period. The researchers also tracked what the participants ate during the trial, and made some surprising discoveries.

The group that ate an avocado a day had an overall increase in their diet quality during the study period. They also ate more vegetables and chose foods that had less sodium, refined grains, and added sugar.

Related: I Eat an Avocado Every Day, and I'm Not Sure I'd Be Able to Live Without This Genius Tool

“In the U.S., diet quality is poor across all age groups from two years through older adulthood,” says Kristina Petersen, PhD, lead study author and associate professor of nutritional sciences at Penn State. “This is of concern because poor diet quality is a risk factor for many chronic diseases, including heart disease, the leading cause of death in the U.S. and globally. Therefore ways to improve diet quality and reduce risk of diet-related chronic diseases are needed.”

Eating an avocado a day is a tasty and relatively easy way to improve your diet quality, Petersen points out. But how do avocados push people to make healthier diet choices? Nutritionists have a few theories.

Why might eating avocados be linked with better diet quality?

The study didn’t specifically analyze why people may have a better diet quality when they eat an avocado a day — it simply found a link. But Petersen suspects that the avocados helped to crowd out less healthy foods. Meaning: Having an avocado may have helped people to feel more full and less likely to reach for junk food or other not-so-nutritious options.

Jessica Cording, RD, author of The Little Book of Game-Changers, agrees. “Avocados are a really great source of good fats, as well as fiber,” she says. “That combination can help you feel full.”

But Cording also points out that avocados are usually eaten with other healthful foods, which can boost your diet quality. “They pair so well with other nutrient-dense foods,” she says. “We often talk about foods with health halos like they’re a bad thing but if someone is in the mindset of incorporating an avocado every day, it’s natural to think about foods that go well with it — whole grains, salads, and high-protein foods.” People are conditioned to make those connections and may simply make healthier dietary choices with avocados because those foods go well together, Cording says.

Avocados can also be used in place of saturated fats, like butter or cheese, which can make meals more heart-healthy, too, says Keri Gans, RD, author of The Small Change Diet.

Other avocado benefits to be aware of

Avocados are a nutrient-dense fruit that’s packed with fiber, potassium, magnesium, and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Research has found that people who eat avocados tend to have higher HDL (“good”) cholesterol, a lower risk of metabolic syndrome like Type 2 diabetes, and lower body weight than those who don’t.

A regular avocado habit has also been linked to good cardiovascular health. A study of nearly 69,000 women and nearly 42,000 men published in the Journal of the American Heart Association in 2022 found that people who ate at least two servings a week of avocados had a 16% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 21% lower risk of coronary heart disease compared to people who never or rarely ate avocados.

What to keep in mind if you want to eat more avocados

Avocados are packed with vitamins, but dietitians say it’s important to be aware of the fruit’s nutrient profile. “Avocados are high in calories,” Gans says, noting that one medium-sized avocado has 225 calories. “For many calorie-conscious individuals, they may consider sticking to one serving, which is around one-third of a medium-sized avocado,” she says.

But if you factor the calories into your overall intake for the day, Cording says having a daily avocado can “absolutely” be a great thing for your health. 

Read the original article on Food & Wine