Most American adults today didn’t grow up with avocados, but we’ve certainly developed a hearty appetite for them. In 1990, the United States imported 38m pounds of avocados; by 2023, that number was 2,789m, mostly from Mexico.
On average, each of us eats about 20 avocados, or 9lbs of the fruit, a year – a sixfold increase from 1998. Super Bowl guacamole alone fuels a staggering demand for the fruit; in the lead-up to this Sunday’s game, Americans are expected to devour nearly 280m pounds of avocados, a historical record.
Avocado toast, California rolls, cobb salad? America’s answer is “yes” – and not only because of the fruit’s creaminess, but its perceived healthfulness. We believe avocados are a superfood, but why, exactly, do they have that reputation?
What is the nutritional makeup of avocados?
One medium Hass avocado contains about 320 calories and 30g of heart-healthy, monounsaturated fat. A serving of avocado is about 50g, or a third of a medium fruit, but portion size is flexible: a whole fruit can fit into your daily diet depending on your overall calorie needs (a person consuming 2,000 calories a day requires about 44 – 78g of total fat).
Not only does monounsaturated fat help lower cholesterol, thereby our risk of heart disease, but it can “carry” the vitamins in avocado, like vitamins A, D and folate, making them easier for our bodies to absorb through the gut and into our bloodstream, says Dalina Soto, a Philadelphia-based registered dietician.
Avocado’s fiber contributes to its status as a nutritional powerhouse: one fruit contains 14g of fiber – roughly half your daily needs. “Avocados provide both soluble fiber, which helps support gut bacteria, slows digestion, and can help with blood sugar regulation, and insoluble fiber, which supports regular digestion and gut motility,” Soto explains. “We need both for gut and metabolic health.”
Avocados deliver vitamin E, an antioxidant helpful for immune defense and skin resilience. They also contain lutein, one of only two eye-specific carotenoids (a kind of antioxidant that gives plants their pigment) that accumulates in eye tissues to potentially help reduce the risk of age-related conditions like macular degeneration and cataracts, according to Tufts University research.
These researchers also observed that daily avocado intake correlated with sharper working memory and attention in older adults, suggesting that avocados may be a good addition to a brain-supportive diet.
Can avocados support weight loss?
In 2021, a randomized controlled study found that families with higher avocado consumption than a control group (14 avocados a week versus three for a family of five) “reported fewer calories overall and an improved diet quality” over a six-month period, says Dr Lorena Pacheco, first author of the study, nutritional epidemiologist and researcher at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health at UC San Diego.
In the families that ate more avocados, it seemed “there was a shift in their whole eating pattern in a healthier direction”, she says.
Pacheco thinks several factors contributed to these results. For one, fiber-rich avocados are “known to help people feel fuller for longer”, thus leading people to eat less “without consciously trying to reduce calories”, she says.
It’s worth noting that the reduction in calories did not lead to weight loss among the study’s participants, meaning their lifestyle shifts were either not significant enough to produce changes in waist circumference or BMI, or more time was required than the study’s six-month scope to take effect, Pacheco says.
Nonetheless, avocados “may replace less healthy foods”, meaning that when families added avocados to their meals, they may have substituted them for foods higher in sugar, refined carbs or saturated fat, “such as using avocado as a spread on a sandwich in lieu of mayonnaise”, Pacheco says.
Consuming an excess of saturated fat can worsen cardiovascular health, raising “bad” LDL cholesterol and promoting the formation of plaque in arteries, so replacing saturated fat with monounsaturated fat – be it olive oil, nuts, seeds or avocado – is generally a healthful switch. Indeed, in 2022, Pacheco published statistical estimates showing that people eating avocados twice a week or more could have an up to 21% lower risk of heart disease, especially when avocados replace trans or saturated fats like butter or processed meats.
But is it ecologically responsible to eat avocados?
Most of Mexico’s avocados are grown year-round in Michoacán, a mountainous state in western Mexico. There, the crop has historically contributed to illegal deforestation, affecting local biodiversity and monarch butterfly habitat. Avocado orchard expansion resulted in approximately 49,400 acres (think a mid-sized city) of deforestation between 2018 and 2024, according to Mexico’s secretary of environment and natural resources, Alicia Bárcena Ibarra.
But there are signs that new forest loss could be curbed. Namely, the Mexican government and the Association of Avocado Exporting Producers and Packers launched a deforestation-free certification program in 2024 that tracks compliance with environmental laws and protects key biological areas, explains Kimin Cho, a PhD candidate at University of Hawai’i at Mānoa whose research has explored the environmental sustainability and transparency of Mexico’s avocado supply chain. “Certification also includes third-party auditors, so that helps the overall governance structure,” Cho says.
As of January, Mexican avocados will need to meet a deforestation-free criteria in order to be exported. This may not be a silver bullet for all of avocado’s agricultural challenges, but it could mean our favorite, fatty fruit is getting just a little more green.
