Penn State Study Finds 1 Daily Avocado Cuts LDL Particles by 49 nmol/L

3 articles · Updated · health.yahoo.com · Aug 10

786 adults in a six-month trial saw LDL particle levels fall by 49 nanomoles per liter when they ate one avocado daily, a change researchers linked to about a 4% drop in heart disease risk.
Penn State researchers focused on LDL particles rather than LDL cholesterol, saying a higher particle count can raise cardiovascular risk even when standard “bad cholesterol” readings look the same.
The study drew on adults 25 and older with abdominal obesity risk markers—waistlines above 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women—and compared blood samples from the start and end of the trial.
Small LDL particles can more easily enter artery walls and contribute to plaque buildup, making the finding a modest but potentially meaningful shift in a separate heart-risk marker.
The paper was published in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology; the Avocado Nutrition Center funded the study but, the authors said, had no role in the data collection or analysis.