![]() ![]() They all brought the dangerous, large LDL down, but the avocado had the additional effect of also bringing down the super-dangerous small LDL. And, to see why, they broke the LDL down into large versus small. But, what if you replace animal fat with the whole plant food avocado? An even better effect. Well, any time you drop saturated fat, you’re going to bring down LDL-whether you replace animal fat with plant fat (oil, in this case) or with carbs. ![]() So, the two latter diets were very similar diets, but one had the nutrients unique to the avocado, and the other didn’t. “…he first randomized controlled feeding trial” to look at avocados and LDL size what they did was remove animal fat from people’s diet, and replaced it with either carbs, or avocado, or vegetable oils that had a similar fat profile to the avocado. Do avocados offer similar benefits? We didn’t know…until, now. So, there appears to be some special components in nuts that lowers the worst of the worst. In the famous PREDIMED study, those randomized to the extra nuts group got a significant drop in the smallest, densest LDL, but those randomized to the extra virgin olive oil group did not. So, it’s not just a monounsaturated fat effect. Note: this does not happen with extra-virgin olive oil. And, this includes the small, dense, most dangerous LDL. And, if you put people on a plant-based diet with lots of fiber and nuts, you can get a massive 30% drop in LDL, comparable to a cholesterol-lowering statin drug. Add walnuts to a low-fat diet, and not only does LDL go down, but the size distribution of the LDL shifts to a little more benign as well. And, it may help best with the worst type of LDL.Īs I’ve touched on before, all LDL cholesterol is bad cholesterol, but large, fluffy LDL may only increase the odds of cardiac events-like heart attacks-31%, whereas small, dense LDL is even worse.įeed people lots of oatmeal and oat bran, and not only does their LDL go down overall, but it specifically brings down the worst of the worst. This group started out with LDLs through the roof, and while cutting out meat may have helped, cutting out meat and adding avocado seemed to help even more. Okay, but what if you eat no meat at all, versus no meat with avocado added? They took people with sky-high cholesterol-up around 300-and switched them to a relatively low-fat vegetarian diet, with about 20% of calories from fat, versus a vegetarian diet with added avocado-bringing it up to more of a typical fat content: 30% of calories from fat. But, add avocado while reducing saturated fat intake, and cholesterol falls-but no more than just reducing saturated fat while adding nothing. Just add avocado to their diet without doing anything else, and cholesterol does not go down. So, for example, if you take people eating a standard North American diet, including animal fats-dairy and poultry are the two greatest contributors of cholesterol-raising saturated fat intake-they may start out with an LDL up around here. When one sees headlines like, “Avocados Could Improve Your Cholesterol,” they’re largely talking about substitution experiments, where avocado is added to the diet by replacing animal fats. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. ![]() Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content.
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