Food: Is avocado really that good for our health?

According to a recent study by American researchers, Eat an avocado a day Can improve overall diet quality.

“There is a lawyer Foods rich in nutrients, which contains lots of fiber and other important nutrients. We wanted to see if regular consumption of these foods would increase diet quality,” explained Christina Petersen, associate professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Pennsylvania (United States), author of the study published in February 2024. in a journal Current Developments in Nutrition.

A better quality diet if you eat avocados regularly

Along with her team of researchers, she studied a cohort of 1,008 participants during her study, divided into two groups. One group continued their normal diet and limited their avocado intake, while the other group included one avocado per day in their diet.

“Previous observational research suggests that avocados have consumers Good quality food than non-customers, explains Christina Peterson.

We therefore developed this study to determine if there is a causal relationship between avocado consumption and overall diet quality.

Follow dietary guidelines

The results? “We found that the participants who consumed an avocado daily had a significant increase Adherence to dietary guidelines. This suggests that strategies such as eating an avocado every day may help people improve the quality of their diet,” suggests Professor Peterson.

The study conducted telephone interviews with 1,008 participants to quantify their dietary intake over the past 24 hours.

The researchers then assessed their diets using the Healthy Eating Index to determine how well they followed the dietary guidelines.

“We have determined that the participants are using lawyers Substitute refined grains and certain foods high in sodium. In our study, we classified avocado as a vegetable and found an increase in vegetable consumption attributed to avocado consumption, but participants also used avocado to replace some less healthy options,” explains Professor Peterson.

Avocado, a controversial fruit

Avocados are good for your health, of course, but not necessarily for the planet. Because if in Europe we like this avocado, to consume it, we have to import it from Mexico, Dominican Republic or Peru, in particular, recalls. Western France.

And their production is synonymous with deforestation, often illegally. Enough to make it a product that’s good for food, sure, but with a devastating ecological footprint.

APEI-News. Johanna Msalem

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