I came from the hospital a few hours ago and they were stressing it out to the people listening that Avocados can drastically elevate anyone's cholesterol levels. Now this is contrary to what I know. I love avocados to the point that I have my own avocado tree. Knowing that it helps me control my cholesterol levels only raises my admiration for this fruit.

How effective is Avocadao in lowering cholesterol? Recent studies have shown that when consumed in sufficient quantities (relative to the body mass) they have almost if not equal efficiency as the drug Lipitor. Amazing isn't it?

Three weeks of eating Avocado daily reduced the blood cholesterol by 10% in middle-aged women better than a low fat diet did.  This was a study conducted in Brisbane Australia. It also improved the good HDL cholesterol by 15 percent. Serving in this study were 1/2 avocado for small woman and 1 1/2 for large woman.

This implies without reasonable doubt that eating Avocado can reduce heart attack in a person. I suggest you go to you nearest grocer and stock up on Avocados. :-)

So why does Avocados lower cholesterol despite its fat content and carbohydrate. One of the main reasons is that Avocados are a great source of hearthealthy monosaturated fat.  This type of fat is largely responsible for raising levels of HDL (good cholesterol) which actually provides protection to the arteries. It also lowers levels of LDL (bas cholesterol).  Further, HDL is the good cholesterol that cleanses the arteries from LDL build up. This shows that the higher the HDL in the body the lower the LDL cholesterol.

So how many Avocados should you eat?

As much as reasonably can... just remember taht too much of everythin gis also bad. :-)