Hass avocado nutrients and potential health effects
What it found
Avocados are a nutrient-dense fruit with a low sugar content and a fat profile that may support heart health.
Eight small clinical studies in people found positive effects on blood lipids.
What they found
Studies in people
Blood lipids in people
Eight preliminary clinical trials found that avocado-enriched diets improved blood lipid profiles. In people with high cholesterol, avocado lowered LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides and raised HDL-cholesterol compared to high-carbohydrate diets or diets without avocado.
Weight management
In a 6-week trial, 61 overweight and obese adults who ate 200 g of avocado daily lost similar weight, BMI, and body fat as those who did not eat avocado. A separate study of 26 overweight adults found that half an avocado at lunch reduced self-reported hunger and desire to eat.
Carotenoid absorption
Adding avocado to salad without dressing, or with reduced-fat or fat-free dressing, or serving avocados with salsa, increased carotenoid absorption by 2 to 5 times in clinical research.
Osteoarthritis support
Four randomized controlled trials and one meta-analysis tested avocado and soy unsaponifiables (ASU) at 300 mg per day for hip and knee osteoarthritis. Three trials showed support and one showed no joint cartilage improvement compared to placebo.
What the authors conclude
- They conclude that avocados can fit into a full range of healthy eating plans, such as the DASH diet plan.
- They state that eight preliminary avocado cardiovascular health clinical studies have consistently demonstrated positive heart healthy effects on blood lipid profiles.
How it was done
The authors wanted to provide the first comprehensive summary of published nutrition and health research on the avocado and its major components.
They reviewed published studies on Hass avocado composition and health effects, including eight preliminary clinical trials in people, some as small as 13 to 37 subjects and lasting 1 to 4 weeks.
What it can’t tell you
- Most avocado clinical trials were small, with 13 to 37 subjects, and lasted only 1 to 4 weeks, so larger and longer trials are needed to confirm the blood lipid effects.
- The cancer findings come from lab studies on cells, not from people, so they cannot show what happens in the human body.
- The review cannot show that avocados cause better health outcomes, only that studies have found links or short-term effects.
The paper
- Title
- Hass avocado composition and potential health effects
- Type
- ReviewThe authors read earlier studies and describe what they found. It isn’t a new study.
- Evidence
- Studies in people · animals · lab
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Dreher ML, Davenport AJ (2013). Hass avocado composition and potential health effects. Critical reviews in food science and nutrition. doi:10.1080/10408398.2011.556759Free full textPubMed 23638933DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error