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Health Benefits of Avocado

The avocado (Persea americana) is a tree, long thought to have originated in South Central Mexico, classified as a member of the flowering plant family Lauraceae. The fruit of the plant, also called an avocado (or avocado pear or alligator pear), is botanically a large berry containing a single large seed known as a “pit” or a “stone”.

Avocados are commercially valuable and are cultivated in tropical and Mediterranean climates throughout the world. They have a green-skinned, fleshy body that may be pear-shaped, egg-shaped, or spherical. Commercially, they ripen after harvesting. Avocado trees are partially self-pollinating and are often propagated through grafting to maintain a predictable quality and quantity of the fruit.

Helps With Diabetes Management

Diabetes control is tough, with not many foods offering decent support. Many people try to find better carbohydrate sources, but often that alone is insufficient. However, avocados are not your average carbohydrate heavy fruit, as they contain lots of good fat, which acts to slow the absorption of sugar into the blood stream. Since type 2 diabetics also have poor insulin sensitivities, it is a good course of action to slow down the speed of absorption to allow insulin a greater time to process the carbs.

Promote Skin Health

If you think you suffer from dry skin, or think your skin health could be better, avocados can become your best friends. Avocados are loaded with skin friendly fats, and the antioxidant vitamin C and vitamin E. vitamin C is also involved in the synthesis of collagen, ensuring that skin is kept looking healthy and supple for years to come. Fat in avocados help reinforce the structural barrier of the skin, so that moisture is not lost at a fast rate.

Avocados Can Help You Lose Weight

We all can probably do with a little bit of weight loss, so every single thing helps. When it comes to fat, many people are scared, and misinformed. Fats will not necessarily cause you to gain weight, even though they yield more calories per gram when compared with the other macronutrients. Avocados, however, can help reduce your appetite and suppresses your overall caloric intake over the course of the day. Plus, when included in meals, you are likely to be satisfied for a far long time, opposed to having a meal without ample fat.

Avocados Are Fiber Rich

Many people fail to get enough fiber in their diets today, for one reason or another. Frequently, it occurs as a result of eating too many processed foods, and not consuming enough whole foods. If you dislike vegetables, there is still hope. Avocados contain both of the essential fiber; soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber plays an important role in supporting the microbiome of our gut, while insoluble fiber helps support regularity. Both have important roles to play, so it is important that you get both every day.

Can Improve Cholesterol Profiles

Though eating a poor diet, compounded with low quality fats and sugars is the fast way to developing heart disease, not all fats are bad. In fact, fats are essential and necessary for good health, including the health of your heart, and keeping cholesterol values normal. Regular consumption of avocados help to improve the good aspect of your cholesterol, known as HDL, and lower the aspects that you want to keep down, such as LDL and triglycerides. If you suffer from hyperlipidemia, it is a good idea to consume healthy fats such as avocados, while simultaneously reducing artificial fats and carbohydrates to see maximal benefit.

Bolster Absorption of Plant Based Nutrients

Though fruits and vegetables are extremely rich in nutrients, did you know that they can be sabotaged? Yes, in fact they have a built in sabotage mechanism, in the form of fiber. Though fiber is an important part of your diet, it can become troublesome when it impairs absorption of the numerous phytochemicals found in plant foods. The best way to counter this? Consume good fat. By doing so, the fat acts as a carrier molecule, helping transport fat soluble nutrients that would have otherwise gone to waste. This explains the very common scenario of nutrient deficiency that occurs in people who restrict fat intake, or are on primarily vegan diets.

Good for Improving Eye Health

Avocados boost absorption of nutrients that are important to good health, but are also rich in the eyes’ preferred anti-oxidants, lutein and zeaxanthin. These anti-oxidants have demonstrated the ability to reduce the development of cataracts, slow down degeneration of the muscles and nerves of the eyes, and can improve night vision. These become even more important the older we get.

Contain Essential Folic Acid

Folic acid is important for DNA replication in all humans, but is even more important during pregnancy. It is advised that all women consume a supplement enhanced with folic acid, but avocados are an excellent source. Folic acid helps prevent the development of deformities in the womb, such as a condition called spina bifida.

Promote Healthy Liver Function

The liver is one of your most important organs. Even though it is self-regenerating, that does not mean that you can take it for granted. The best way to support your hard working liver is to help it function optimally. Avocados can help reduce symptoms of fatty liver disease that are caused by elevated cholesterol and blood triglycerides as well. In addition, avocados can boost synthesis of the body’s most powerful anti-oxidant glutathione to help safeguard you from free radicals.

Avocados Can Prevent Bad Breath

Avocados contain flavonoids which combat bacterial and fungal overgrowth in the mouth, effectively reducing the likelihood of halitosis occurring. In that same vein, they can also help prevent festering of mouth ulcers.

Promote Healing of Wounds

Avocados can help speed up the healing of wounds, by modulating immune system activity. Ensuring that recruitment occurs in a timely fashion helps overall healing by cutting down recovery time.