Avocados (Persea Americana) are known for their richness in fats and other nutrients. Avocado is widely used in a variety of dishes because of the typical flavor and the feel that it gives to the palate. Guacamole consumed in Mexico comes from avocados.
The growing consciousness of health among common people has led to its popularity, because of which it has become a super food. The underlying reason is because of its bioactive phytochemicals. Avocados are varying in color, shape and weight. Thus, the shape varies pear to a sphere, color from green to black and the weight varies from 220 grams to 1,400 grams. The fruit is consumed in the form of it fresh and the skin and seed are thrown out.
Studies over the years show that the fruit is laden with fat that brings positive effect on your heart and joints. It also boosts the absorption of antioxidants besides being a good source of antioxidants good for your vision and reproductive system. Thus, there are multiple benefits of eating avocados. If you consume them each day, it’d bring beneficial results for your health.
Why you should consume Avocados?
- A rich source of nutrients
Avocados are highly nutritious with many different vitamins and minerals. A hundred-gram of the fruit gives you 160 calories, 2 grams of protein, 15 grams of fat, 7 grams of fiber and 2 grams of carbs. Thus, if you’re looking for low carb vegetarian recipe, avocados are the right option.
As for minerals and vitamins, a 100 gram obtains (as percentage of RDA) vitamin B5 14%, vitamin B6 13%, vitamin C 17%, vitamin E 10%, vitamin K 26%, folate 20%, potassium 14%; and trace amounts of magnesium, manganese, copper, iron, phosphorous, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, and vitamin B3 (niacin). Significantly, avocados do not pack your body with sodium or cholesterol, and contain low quantities of saturated fat.
- A great source of potassium
Potassium is an important mineral for maintaining right blood pressure, the electrolyte balance, and other benefits and reduces the risk of heart attacks, stroke and kidney failure. However, studies show that potassium is one of the nutrients that is deficient. Avocados are a rich source of potassium – you’ll get 145 RDA from a 100-gram pack serving.
- A rich source of monounsaturated fats good for the heart
Avocados are laden with healthy fat. The fat makes up to 77% of the calories, which makes it the richest source of fat.
The constituent fat is oleic acid, an important nutrient found in olive oil. Oleic acid is said to be associated with curing inflammation and benefits in alleviating the cancer causing genes’ effect.
It’s important to note that the fats stay intact even when cooked well (resistant to heat caused oxidation). This makes avocado oil a healthy choice for cooking.
- A rich source of fiber
While planning your diet, fiber should constitute an important part. Fiber plays an important role in diet of all – children as well as adults. Dietary fiber helps reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, hyper tension, and gastrointestinal disease. (Source: NCBI).
Fiber is of two kinds: soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber is useful – it keeps the useful bacteria optimally functional. Compared to other foods, avocados are richer in fiber. Close to 25 % of fiber in avocado is soluble and the remaining 75% is insoluble. A 100 gram serving gives 7 grams of fiber equivalent to 27% of RDA.
- Avocados help reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels
According to WHO estimates, heart diseases tops among the deadly illnesses in the world. Cholesterol and triglycerides are the leading risk factors for heart disease, blood pressure and various other fatal diseases associated with blood vessels.
Avocados can play a significant role in reduces the effects of these risk factors. Research shows that people consuming the fruit regularly can benefit in reducing the total cholesterol remarkably. It helps reduce triglycerides up to 20%, reduce LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) by 22% and improve HDL (good cholesterol) by 11% when compared to people who don’t consume avocados.
- Eating avocados keeps you healthy
Research (a NHANES survey) on people consuming avocados as part of their regular diet shows that these people are healthier compared with who don’t have avocados in their diet.
People consuming avocados tend to consume more nutrients and reduce the chance of metabolic syndrome by 50%. Metabolic syndrome is a major risk factor for heart diseases and type 2 diabetes.
People consuming avocados regularly tend to have lower weight, a lower BMI and lower flab in the tummy. However, the study is not great because the correlation between the cause and effect has not been established.
- Avocados help absorb vegetarian nutrients
It’s important that the nutrients that you consume get absorbed in the body. Avocados help the body absorb fat-soluble nutrients, namely vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin K and antioxidants such as carotenoids.
Research shows that having avocados in salsa or salads can boost antioxidant absorption by 2.6 to 15 times. Thus, avocados apart from being a rich source of nutrients, boost the absorption of plant-based nutrients. It’s, therefore, sensible to include avocados in your regular diet, or you run the risk of losing nutrients.
- Healthy for your eyes
As discussed earlier, avocados boost antioxidant absorption, as well as they’re themselves are a rich source of antioxidants essential for healthy eyes, namely lutein and zeaxanthin. These two antioxidants help minimize the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration among the elderly.
- Avocado extract helps get relief from arthritis symptoms
Studies show that avocado extracts combined with soybean oil (Avocado-Soybean unsaponifiables) help ease the symptoms of osteoarthritis, a common illness of bones.
- As a significant factor in diet for your weight loss plan
If you’re obese or overweight, avocado would be a boon. Rich in fiber and low in carbs, avocados are a great choice for weight loss plan.
Studies on people consuming avocados as part of their regular diets show that such people are 23% more gratified and have a 28% lower hunger to eat over the following five hours compared to people who didn’t have avocados in their diet. This result continues to happen in the long run as well.
- Delicious to your palate and easy to make
The fruit is delicious and can be part of your great recipe – salads and salsa. Avocados entail little processing, usage of preservatives and extra agents that add to the taste.
Guacamole, a dish of avocado is an important recipe that contains enhanced by salt, garlic, onion and other spices.
Using avocados is simple and easy – you can ripen them quickly and make the dish of your choice. Watch this video on how to eat avocados.
Conclusion
Research is underway on the benefit of avocados in cancer. However, isolated studies show that they are beneficial in cancer by easing the harmful effects of chemotherapy. A study shows that the fruit can suppress the growth prostate cancer cells. Notwithstanding this finding, consuming avocados can help you get health and boost the odds to lessen the risk of life threatening diseases (heart disease, stroke, high cholesterol, hypertension and the like).
