People are eating more avocados than ever, turning them into guacamole, piling them atop avocado toast, stirring them into egg salad, and even folding them into avocado cheesecake. You’ll really want to stock up on this creamy fruit when you hear about these newly-discovered health benefits as of July 2022.

Along with being a tasty addition to sweet and savory dishes, avocados are packed with antioxidants and are said to improve heart health. Now, research shows that eating avocado can lower your levels of LDL, or low-density lipoprotein, the bad cholesterol that accumulates in the arteries and causes heart disease.

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University undertook a study where they asked half of the experiment's 1,000 participants to eat one avocado a day, while the other half kept their diet the same. After six months, those in the avocado group showed an average reduction of 2.5 milligrams/deciliter of LDL in their blood.

Along with lowering LDL, avocados are packed with potassium, which can help rid your body of excess sodium, are full of fiber to keep you feeling full and energized, and are a good source of folate, a B vitamin that can impact cell growth. Perhaps the old adage should be changed to “An avocado a day keeps the doctor away.”