Health Highlights: March 30, 2022

Avocados do a heart good. People who ate half an avocado twice a week had a 16% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 21% lower risk of heart disease, compared with people who never or rarely ate the fruit, researchers found. Read more

New clues to autism’s origins in the brain. Overgrowth of a part of the brain that’s associated with the disorder occurs during infancy, possibly paving the way to earlier diagnosis. Read more

COVID vaccine appears safe for kids who’ve had MIS-C. The new study was small — just 15 patients — but saw no evidence that vaccination could trigger a re-emergence of the potentially deadly COVID complication. Read more