Overweight and obese people who are put onto a cholesterol-lowering diet may see big benefits if they consume an avocado every day, a new study suggests.

Fat is essential in the diet, however most of the fat we consume should come from unsaturated fatty acids, which avocados are known to be high in. US scientists set out to assess whether avocados had any effect on cardiovascular risk factors. Their study included 45 adults aged between 21 and 70 who were overweight or obese.

Participants were randomly chosen to go on three different cholesterol-lowering diets - a lower fat diet without avocado, a moderate-fat diet without avocado and a moderate-fat diet with avocado.

As part of the lower fat diet, 24% of daily calories were made up of fat, while with the moderate diet, this figure was 34%.

The participants followed these diets for five weeks. After this period, the scientists tested their levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), which is better known as ‘bad' cholesterol.

It found that while all three groups recorded a drop in their LDL levels, the biggest drop was in the group on a moderate-fat diet who consumed avocados. In other words, even if people consumed the same moderate-fat diet, LDL levels were lower if avocados were included.

Those on the moderate-fat avocado diet also recorded other more favourable measurements, e.g. they had lower total cholesterol levels and lower triglycerides (a type of blood fat) levels.

The scientists acknowledged that for many people, avocados ‘are not a mainstream food' and ‘most people do not know how to incorporate them in their diet except for making guacamole'.

"But guacamole is typically eaten with corn chips, which are high in calories and sodium. Avocados, however, can also be eaten with salads, vegetables, sandwiches, lean protein foods (like chicken or fish) or even whole," they added.

Details of these findings are published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

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