Is Avocado High in Cholesterol?

Not only is avocado not high in cholesterol, it contains absolutely no cholesterol at all. Zilch.

In fact, no plant-based sources of food contain cholesterol. This means that all of the heart clogging cholesterol found in our vascular systems are derived from animal sources of food in our diet.

Eating avocado can actually help to reduce the amount of bad cholesterol and increase the good cholesterol in your blood because it contains large amounts of monounsaturated fat. Avocados are composed of roughly 80% monounsaturated fat.

The healthy kind of fat are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated, both of which are known to lower the amount of LDL cholesterol in the blood. Some studies even show that they increase HDL cholesterol levels.

So if you are worried about your triglyceride and cholesterol levels, you can rest assured that eating avocado will not have a negative effect on either of these readings.

The key to lowering cholesterol levels is reducing the amount of saturated fat in the diet, which is mostly found in meat and other animal sources of food.

So, consider reducing the amount of meat that you eat, especially red meat, and replace it with more fruits and vegetables. May I suggest a ripe and luscious Hass avocado?

Photo: Tomato and Avocado by James Lee