Benefits of Avocado

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Consuming an avocado a day is beneficial for people who want to maintain a good physique. This guide will help you understand the benefits of avocado. 

(ez-toc)

The North and South Americans have seen a boom in the consumption of avocados in the last few years. The fact that 90% of avocado production takes place in the United States makes it even more evident. 

With a resemblance to that of a large berry, this American fruit has long been used and eaten in many vegetarian salads and cuisines. The single-seed avocado has amazing health benefits, which is the reason why nutritionists experts often recommend this fruit in your diet. 

Benefits of Avocado

If you eat an avocado daily, you actually consume all the essential nutrients required by the body. For this reason, we have analyzed the nutrients available in the avocado and how these nutrients help you maintain a healthy lifestyle. 

What is Avocado?

Natively born and cultivated in Mexico, the Avocado fruit is already known to Mexican food. However, due to the mixture of sweet and savory taste of the fruit, many Americans disliked the fruit’s confusing taste. For that matter, it took many commercials and marketing tactics by the California Avocado Commission to make avocado widely known.

One of the most known tactics discovered was to educate Americans about the nutritional value of consuming avocado. Enriched with a good amount of fats, fiber, and minerals, the fruit is used in two ways: as a medicine and as a delicious breakfast. 

As a medicine, the leaves and seeds of avocado can be used to extract oil. This oil helps people with osteoarthritis disease and is also a cure for migraines. 

And as breakfast, the avocado can be taken raw or used as a topping in sandwiches, pizza, or burgers. Some Americans may even prefer to use avocado on toast or scrambled eggs.

Benefits of Avocado

Nutritional Value Of Avocados:

A 100-gram avocado has 160 calories and is known as a nutrition-dense fruit. With 73% water, 15% fat, 9% carbohydrates, and just 2% protein, the fruit is also known as the powerhouse of B minerals, Vitamin K, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and potassium. 

Consuming 100 grams on a daily basis means adding half an avocado to the diet. As per the data provided by USDA, an avocado has all the essential nutrients with only 160 calories intake. 

Following is a list of nutrients available in 100 grams of avocado:

Carbohydrates: 8.53 gram, 6.7-gram dietary fiber
Fat: 14.66-gram
Saturated fat: 2.13-gram
Monounsaturated fat: 9.80-gram
Polyunsaturated fat: 1.82-gram
Protein: 2-gram
Folate (B9): 81 micrograms
Vitamin C: 10 milligrams
Vitamin E: 2.07 milligrams
Vitamin K: 21 micrograms
Calcium: 12 milligrams
Iron: 0.55 milligrams
Magnesium: 29 milligrams
Manganese: 0.142 milligrams
Phosphorous: 52 milligrams
Potassium: 485 milligrams
Sodium: 7 milligrams
Zinc: 0.64 milligrams
Water: 73 grams
Fluoride: 7 micrograms
Betasitosterol: 76 milligrams

Health benefits of Avocado

Avocado is a nutritious fruit that helps to aid chronic heart diseases, improves eye vision, takes care of skin health, and rejuvenates the mood. Avocado, in a nutshell, is a cure for chronic diseases. The fruit is especially beneficial for older adults who fail to balance a sedentary lifestyle with exercise and good nutrition. 

1. Healthy monounsaturated fats 

Unlike other fruits, avocado contains monounsaturated fats, which are nutritious, healthy, and life-saving. These types of fats defend you against many illnesses and diseases, particularly heart diseases or cancer. 

If you ever read labels for edible oils like olive oils, you must have seen the number of monounsaturated fats in the package. These fats are healthy and the main reason why people regard olive oil as a healthy oil. 

Avocado boasts about 67% of monounsaturated fats out of its total fat content and is therefore supremely healthy. These fats are considered “good fats” because of the following reasons:

Benefits of Avocado

Improves mood: 

A substantial portion of monounsaturated fats is oleic acid which is a mood buster, lowers high cholesterol, and cures inflammation. 

Healthy for the heart: 

Oleic acid in the monounsaturated fats will help your heart pump up more oxygen-rich blood and lower the low-density lipoprotein (LDL), which is the main cause behind the risks of hypertension, stroke, or heart attack. With reduced bad cholesterols, monounsaturated fats provide you with a heart-healthy lifestyle. 

Source of vitamin E: 

Almost 88.5% of Americans do not consume the required Vitamin E, which is important to build an immunity system in the body

Monounsaturated fats fulfill the dire need to consume vitamin E in proportion to the body’s requirement. Apart from strengthening immunity, vitamin E takes care of skin health and eye vision. 

Cure for cancer, diabetes, and fractures: 

Most Americans believe in adopting a healthy lifestyle away from life-threatening diseases. Whether it involves practicing daily yoga or consuming a nutritious diet, it is not surprising that the majority of Americans have an eye for good health. 

For the majority of health risk factors, avocado plays an important role. It gives you the right nutrition for fighting cancer and diabetes risks and improving bone density.

You might like to read: Do Soda Tea and Coffee Make Teeth and Bones Brittle?

2. Powerhouse of B vitamins

Avocados are loaded with 8 B vitamins that develop the metabolism in the body to produce and absorb energy from the food. All of the B vitamins together perform an important function to regulate nerve cells and help them reach every body organ, form red blood cells, develop brain functioning, and satisfy the appetite without gaining weight. 

Benefits of Avocado

The various types of B vitamins in avocado are: 

  • B1 Thiamin – Good for the nervous system
  • B2 Riboflavin – Best for gut health, treats acne, ensures brain development, and helps to get rid of migraines.
  • B3 Niacin – Niacin reduces bad cholesterols and increases good cholesterols, maintains efficient blood pressure, treats type1 diabetes, and is a permanent solution for Alzheimer’s disease. 
  • B5 Pantothenic acid – Form red blood cells and produces sex-related hormones. 
  • B6 Pyridoxine – Helps people with depression, soothes menstrual cramps, and prevents nausea during pregnancy. 
  • B7 Biotin – Often taken as supplements, biotin repairs hair skin and improves nail growth. Known as an antioxidant, this vitamin may also help pregnant women and aids brain development for newborns. 
  • B9 Folic acid (folate) – Helpful during early pregnancy to avoid the risk of birth defects. 
  • B12 Cobalamin – Best aid for cognitive function

3. Source of Vitamin K to block bleeding

Vitamin K is often considered a group of compounds that form together to release or give birth to new proteins. These proteins are activated only when a person eats a vitamin-K enriched diet. 

One such protein is Prothrombin which is responsible for healing blood clotting problems. And for developing strong bones, a protein called osteocalcin works along with vitamin K to improve the muscular strength of your body. 

Although there are some other uses of Vitamin K, which are mentioned as follows.

Cure for Hemorrhagic disease:

Most common among infants and young children, Hemorrhagic disease has caused many children to suffer from blood clotting. This kind of disease mainly arises from the loss of Vitamin K in diet or inadequate intake of Vitamin K. 

For this reason, including avocado helps children get appropriate Vitamin K to avoid the risk of bleeding at any age. 

Benefits of Avocado

Say no to osteoporosis:

It is believed that eating one avocado helps people strengthen muscular strength, nourish bones, and reduce bone deformities. Avocados, in turn, make you feel safe to fall into the trap of chronic diseases like osteoporosis which leads to frequent fractures.

Regulates sugar level: 

Vitamin K is said to be a relief for patients who struggle with fluctuating cholesterols. It also benefits people with cancer or breast cancer and has also been proven effective for heart health. 

However, it is recommended that women take 90 mcg of vitamin K in comparison to 120 mcg of vitamin-K intake taken by men

4.  An Antioxidant that Protects Every Organ

Vitamin C is one of the most important nutrients that take care of every organ of your body. Although not produced naturally by the body, vitamin C is usually taken as supplements if foods containing vitamin C are not readily available. 

However, it has been observed that Americans have an extra edge over others in terms of including vitamin-c avocado in the diet. When you eat one raw avocado, you consume 11% of your daily Vitamin C intake, which draws out multiple benefits:

Vitamin C is known as an antioxidant: 

Avocado boosts immunity and prepares the body to fight against any type of disease. This is even more essential since your body can become prone to various infections if not treated well. More so, when some molecules in your body loosen down to cause damage to body cells.

Aid in improving high blood pressure: 

Avocados help to nurture heart health in so many ways. One such effect of avocado is that it lowers high blood pressure, which causes high pressure on your blood vessels. To understand the blood pressure readings, it is wise to understand the difference between systolic blood pressure when the heart beats and diastolic blood pressure when your heart is at rest.  

Benefits of Avocado

Manages unstable cholesterols: 

A study by the American Heart Association claims that avocados help to reduce the total serum cholesterol. The study found that approximately 36.6 million Americans have more than 240 mg of total serum cholesterol levels. This is the main reason why Americans prefer to have avocados all year to keep bad cholesterol at bay and raise good cholesterol. 

Treats Anemia disease: 

With diseases like anemia rising amongst Americans, they are often advised to consume sufficient vitamin C in their diet. So, avocados fulfill these needs as the fruit compensates for the iron deficiency. 

5. Beneficial for the Liver:

Avocados have medicinal properties that can be eaten to absorb essential Vitamin E requirements. This vitamin builds up immunity for the body to avoid falling into the trap of severe diseases. Vitamin E is helpful in many ways, as follows.

  • Improving the triglycerides levels where your liver accumulates excess fat due to obesity or increased diabetes.
  • Helpful to get rid of body aches, particularly for women with PMS syndrome. In many cases, when menstrual pain or cramps are left untreated for a longer time, it results in diseases like Dysmenorrhea.

6. Eliminates the Risk of Kidney Stones

Avocados have been used to gain potassium, another important mineral that is also used to nullify the damages done by sodium. When you eat excess sodium in your diet, you are likely to face many health challenges, particularly on kidneys. 

As per the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, it has been found that consuming 3400 milligrams of potassium for men and 2400 milligrams of potassium for women is recommended by nutrition experts. 

Also known as electrolyte, potassium conducts electrical impulses throughout the body. The potassium, when dissolved in water, maintains positive or negative ions that conduct electricity. This electricity helps the body to maintain ph balance, water balance, nerve impulses, and enables muscle contractions.

Benefits of Avocado

7. Heals wounds and inflammation

It is quite surprising to find if the fruit can actually soothe down the wounds and bruises, and the avocados really stand intact to those needs. Avocados do not just heal cracks or bruises; avocado oil is also used to treat inflamed bodies or skin wounds.

In winters or rainy seasons of harsh weather, many people have used antibiotics or anti-sprain gels to treat swelling areas. The avocado, thus, performs very well to treat swelling, clotting, or sprain in any season. 

You might like to read: Quick and Easy Healthy Meals to Prepare for Seniors

Take Away

There has been a debate that questions whether avocados are fruit or vegetable. While most Americans use avocado as a fruit, the avocado can also be served as a topping for sandwiches or burgers. 

The fruit is often consumed in large quantities because it is loaded with healthy fats, rich vitamins, minerals and is also used as a medicine. With all the essential nutrients in a single fruit, avocados are consumed in a daily diet to neutralize the damages of junk food. 

Benefits of Avocado

We hope you were inspired by this article to add avocados to your diet today! If you have questions or notes about what we wrote, we invite you to leave us a comment, and we will get back to you as quickly as we can. 

And if you loved the information given here, do share the love with others on your social media platforms and in your groups!