Eating an avocado a day could improve the overall quality of your diet, according to a new study from the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Penn State.
- Eating an avocado a day helps you have a healthier diet.
- One study shows the food replaces options high in refined grains and sodium.
- “By improving people’s adherence to dietary guidelines, we can help reduce their risk of developing these chronic diseases,” says the lead author.
Avocado toast, guacamole, avocado poké bowl… if you like avocado, don’t hesitate to include it in your menus. Researchers from the American Penn State University assure that eating this exotic product once a day helps improve the quality of your diet.
The nutritional impact of this food from South America was the subject of an article in the journal Current Developments in Nutrition.
Eat an avocado to eat healthier
“Avocados are a nutrient-dense food, containing lots of fiber and other important nutrients. We wanted to see if regular consumption of this food would lead to an increase in diet quality”explains one of the leaders of the study, Kristina Petersen.
For this, the scientist and her team brought together 1,008 people and divided them into two groups. The first followed his usual diet and had to avoid avocados while the second was asked to have the exotic food on his plate once a day. The volunteers had to follow the instructions for 26 weeks.
“We found that participants who consumed an avocado per day significantly increased their adherence to nutritional recommendations”, explains Kristina Petersen. That is to say, favor fruits, vegetables, whole grains and vegetable oils or protein foods (seafood, white meat, eggs, nuts, beans, etc.) and limit alcoholic beverages, meat red, added sugars, sodium and even saturated fats. “This suggests that strategies, such as eating an avocado per day, can help people follow institutional dietary guidelines and improve the quality of their diet.”
The scientist adds: “We determined that participants were using avocados as a substitute for certain foods high in refined grains and sodium. In our study, we classified avocados as a vegetable and found an increase in vegetable consumption attributed to avocado consumption. Participants also used avocados to replace some less healthy options.”
Avocado: it helps to follow nutritional recommendations
“By improving people’s adherence to dietary guidelines, we can help reduce their risk of developing these chronic diseases and extend healthy life expectancy”assures Kristina Petersen in a communicated. She points out that a poor quality diet considerably increases the risk of having health problems: heart problems, type 2 diabetes, kidney disease, obesity, etc.
“In studies like this, we are able to determine ways to improve diet quality.” However, the specialist recognizes that this is not enough to bring about change: “Behavioral strategies are also needed to help people meet nutritional recommendations and reduce their risk of chronic disease.”
