10 Health Benefits of Avocado

Avocado tree belongs to the family of bay laurel and cinnamon tree. This tree is believed to be originated in Mexico; however, now avocados are planted everywhere around the globe including Indonesia, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Chile, Uruguay, USA, and New Zealand. You should not be surprised to know that you can even plant the avocado tree in your backyard, provided the temperature does not drop below 5 ⁰ C. This fruit has been identified as a very beneficial fruit with several benefits associated with it.

Avocados are available throughout the year and can be easily grabbed from your nearby supermarket. Significant health benefits of avocado include medicinal value that can revert heart disorders, and is a useful food for body building.

Health Benefits of Avocados

There are several benefits understood of avocado. Also, these benefits spawn over various disorders and problems including heart related problems and cancer. Following are some common benefits of including this fruit in your diet.

Lowers Cholesterol Levels – The most beneficial factor of avocado fruit is that it has a compound, beta-sitosterol in abundance. This compound has been determined to be effective in lowering bad cholesterol levels in the body.

LDL cholesterol is termed as bad cholesterol. Consumption of avocado fruit regularly, has helped in decreasing the overall cholesterol levels by almost 17% and particularly LDLlevels dropped by 22%. Including avocado in the daily diet for a week resulted in 11% increasein HDL cholesterol.

Healthy Eyes – Avocado fruit has carotenoid lutein compound in copiousness, as compared to any other fruit. This compound is vital for eye health. Many degenerative eye diseases can be prevented with carotenoid. Some degenerative eye diseases are oxidative stress, macular degeneration and cataract. These diseases are age-related can cause significant eye sight loss if not treated in time.

Nutrition Absorption – Avocado is a rich source of various nutrients, vitamins and minerals. It has vitamin C, K, E, B6, folic acid, copper, potassium, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, and fiber. One whole avocado provides around one-third of the vitamin C’s daily prescribed value and half of the daily prescribed value of vitamin K. One avocado contains 30% extra potassium than in banana. Potassium helps in improving and maintaining good blood circulation.

Cancer Prevention – Avocado has a significant health benefit of cancer prevention. Research studies have proved that this fruit has certain compounds and toxics (toxics are not yet identified completely) that help in preventing several types of cancers including oral cancer, breast cancer, and prostate cancer. Oleic acid present in avocado is proved to be effective to inhibit the growth of breast cancer.

Fight Free Radicals – Avocado is a rich source for antioxidants and this makes it effective against free radicals that cause aging signs in the body. Avocados contain glutathione, an antioxidant that fights the free radicals effectively. Vitamin E in avocado also fights the signs of aging by combating free radicals.

Skin Care – Avocado contains natural oil, which is useful for skin care including fighting aging signs and cure skin diseases such as psoriasis. Many popular cosmetic products contain avocado oil.

Prevents Bad Breath – Avocado has compounds, which can be effectively used as natural mouthwash to prevent bad breath. Unclean intestine may cause plaque formation on the teeth and coated tongue. Consumption of avocado can remedy these disorders and give you fresh and pleasant breath, if used in mouthwashes.

Good for Healthy Fetus Development – High folate content in avocados makes it a healthy and recommended fruit for pregnant women. Folate is useful for the development of brain and other vital organ tissues of the fetus. Pregnant women usually experience nausea during the second trimester of the pregnancy. However, pregnant women consuming avocados get vitamin B6 in adequate quantity that can prevent nausea.

Anti Inflammatory Properties – Avocado fruit is rich in anti-inflammatory compounds such as flavonoids and polyphenols. Thus, consuming avocado in any form supplies these nutrients to your body and not just helps fight cancer cells, but also prevents inflammatory diseases.

Overall Health – Unlike many other fruits, which either increase body sugar level, fats and then calories, avocado provides unsaturated healthy fats and ample calories. So, you get a benefit of the essential nutrients while reverting insulin resistance of the body and maintaining blood sugar levels. Thus, avocado fruit provides overall health.

Avocado fruit also known as alligator pear, is grabbing popularity in the world for various reasons. Individuals as well as medical professionals are supporting the consumption of avocado fruit to utilize its anti-inflammatory, cancer preventing, anti-aging, and nutrition providing qualities. There are almost 80 varieties of avocado, amongst which Hass avocado is common.

The most popular benefit of avocado is that it provides healthy heart with low cholesterol and prevents other cardiovascular disorders. In the sedentary lifestyle of today’s world, heart diseases are common. Thus, daily consumption of avocado fruit in various form such as salad, juices, and salsa can be helpful in providing overall health to your body.