The avocado is a fruit that is native to Mexico and Central America but is also grown in many other countries around the world, including the United States, Chile, Peru, Spain, and Australia.
The avocado is a pear-shaped fruit that has green or blackish skin.
Avocado is considered one of the healthiest foods on the planet, and is jam-packed with loads of essential nutrients and minerals that will make your body very happy!
Avocados are known for their numerous health benefits, including the prevention of serious diseases.
Some of these avocado benefits include:
Heart: Monounsaturated fatty acids such as oleic acid make up most of the avocado’s healthy fat. These fatty acids assist in lowering inflammatory levels in the body. Beta-sitosterol, or plant cholesterol, is also found in avocados. Beta-sitosterol lowers your cholesterol, which is beneficial for people with heart disease.
Digestion: There is a lot of fiber in avocados. The insoluble fiber found in these fruits and vegetables is vital to moving waste through the body efficiently, preventing constipation, and keeping you regular.
Blood pressure: The high potassium content in avocados reduces sodium levels in the blood and relaxes the blood vessel walls, helping to level out your blood pressure.
Depression: Low folate levels have been linked to depression in research.
Homocysteine is a substance found in your blood that folate prevents from building up. Having high homocysteine levels leads to depression because homocysteine slows the supply of nutrients to your brain.
Avocados contain a high level of folate which may greatly reduce symptoms of depression.
Pregnancy: To help prevent birth defects in the brain and spine of your baby, you need 400 micrograms of folate a day during pregnancy. Each avocado provides almost half of the daily requirement!
Arthritis and osteoporosis: There is evidence that avocado oil extracts are effective in reducing osteoarthritis symptoms. By slowing bone loss and protecting your bones from osteoporosis, avocados boost your bone health.
Cancer: Folate, which you can obtain from avocados, may reduce your risk of certain cancers, including breast, prostate, and colon cancers. Avocados also contain nutrients that may be beneficial to cancer patients.
Vision: Avocados are full of lutein and zeaxanthin, two powerful antioxidants.
Besides protecting the tissues in your eyes from damage in the form of UV light, they also provide some protection from both cataracts and macular degeneration.
Inflammation: Several diseases, such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and arthritis, can be brought on by chronic inflammation. As an added benefit, avocados contain vitamin E, which reduces inflammation.
Avocado Nutrition Breakdown
- Carbs: 17 grams
- Protein: 4 grams
- Fat: 30 grams
- Calories: 322kcal
- Fiber: 14 grams
- Vitamin K: 36% of the Daily Value
- Vitamin (B6): 31% of the DV
- Vitamin E: 28% of the DV
- Vitamin (B2): 21% of the DV
- Magnesium: 14% of the DV
- Potassium: 22% of the DV
- Copper: 42% of the DV
- Folate: 41% of the DV
- Vitamin (B5): 56% of the DV
- Vitamin C: 21% of the DV
- Vitamin (B3): 23% of the DV
- Manganese: 13% of the DV
What Nutrients Is Avocado High In?
Avocados are high in the following nutrients.
Vitamins and Minerals
Avocados also contain an abundance of micronutrients for your body, in addition to healthy fats and dietary fiber.
Avocados are a great source of nutrients, including:
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin E
- Vitamin K
- Riboflavin (Vitamin B2)
- Niacin (Vitamin B3)
- Potassium
- Folate
- Magnesium
- Pyridoxine (Vitamin B6)
- Pantothenic Acid (Vitamin B5)
Fats
Avocados are an excellent source of healthy fats.
As long as consumed in moderation, good fat is a necessary part of a balanced diet.
In nutrition, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which are found in avocados, are often referred to as “good fats.”
Consuming avocados has been associated with lower levels of bad (LDL) cholesterol.
A relatively recent study suggests that eating an avocado every day may help individuals who are overweight or obese maintain lower levels of bad cholesterol in their bodies.
Fiber
It has been known that eating a high fiber diet can bring down blood sugar, lower cholesterol, and maybe even prevent cancer in certain cases, like colon cancer.
Women should consume 25 grams of fiber a day, while men should consume 35 grams, but most of us fall short of these recommendations.
One tablespoon of avocado contains approximately one gram of fiber, and a whole avocado contains around 10 grams.
If your body is not capable of absorbing nutrients, then you won’t be able to utilize them to their full potential.
Avocados are extremely beneficial when it comes to absorbing nutrients.
Their primary function is that of direct delivery.
Vitamins like E cannot be absorbed when taken from supplements, and it is way more efficient to obtain them directly from food.
Another benefit of avocado is it helps the body absorb fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamins A, D, E, and K.
In order to maximize the absorption of these nutrients, you can add a little avocado to foods high in these nutrients.
Is Avocado A Superfood?
Yes, avocado is indeed considered a superfood because it is not only rich in nutrients but there are numerous health benefits including being a tremendous source of antioxidants that can help reduce the risk of cancer.
Avocados are known to help lower cholesterol and improve heart health.
In addition, they are an excellent source of fiber, potassium, vitamin E, and monounsaturated fat.
Tasty, delectable, and nutritious, avocados can be paired with just about any dish or made into a wide variety of dips like the perennial guacamole.
There are so many ways to enjoy avocados, it might be difficult to know where to start! You can
- Dice them and add them to a salad or an egg
- Mash or slice them into a healthy mayonnaise alternative to spread on a sandwich
- Blend them into a smoothie for a portion of healthy baby food
- Blend them into a smooth base for healthy vegan ice cream!
- Use them as a substitute for anything creamy in a vegan diet
Aside from their formidable health benefits, avocados can be considered among the most versatile superfoods in existence due to the fact that avocados can be incorporated into almost any diet.
In ancient Aztec society, avocados were a primary source of nutrients.
A variety of avocados can be found in the American market today: the Haas avocado hales from California, while the West Indian avocados are abundant in Florida.
A green-black Hass avocado is more popularly known as the Hass after an early California mailman named Rudolph Hass, who as recently as 1935 obtained a patent for the “Hass” avocado tree.
A Hass avocado contains loads of healthy monounsaturated oil and has a rich, buttery flavor.
Although oils and fat may seem like something to steer clear of when choosing a healthy diet, the avocado is extremely nutritious because of its monounsaturated fat, which is considered to be one of its top claims to fame.
The benefits of healthy fats and oils are plentiful. Olives are the only food that offers comparable monounsaturated fats.
After seven days on an avocado-rich diet, researchers found that the total cholesterol level and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels reduced significantly and the “good” HDL cholesterol level increased by 11 percent.
I’m Chris Watson & the Founder of EatForLonger.com. I’m a food and wellbeing enthusiast researching and sharing foodstuffs and simple food-based concepts, such as fasting and clean eating.
I hope it inspires you to make tiny changes to what you eat and when you eat while optimizing your healthspan and all-around well-being.
Read more About Me here.