The avocado, or Persea americana, is a superfood with enormous nutritional value. Avocados are rich in antioxidants that fight disease, healthy fats, and around 20 different vitamins and minerals.
Consuming avocados on a regular basis consume more fibre, potassium, magnesium, and vitamins E and K than non-eaters do. One avocado has more than 20% of the daily intake of vitamin C, 30% of the daily value of vitamin K, and 40% of the daily value of folate.345 Avocados are rich in nutrients as well. This fruit contains over 30% of the daily value of potassium and almost 20% of the daily value of magnesium, two minerals necessary for the body’s structural and chemical processes.
Here are 6 Health Benefits of Avocado:
1. Increases Fullness
Consuming good fats slows down the emptying of the stomach, allowing you to feel fuller for longer periods of time and postpone the onset of hunger. Satiety is the term for this contented state. That includes avocados, whose fat content is mostly made up of heart-healthy monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs). For as long as five hours, adding half of an avocado to your meal might greatly increase fullness.
2. Encourages Good Digestion
Avocados have a beneficial effect on the gut microbiome, which is the home of trillions of microorganisms and their genetic material, inside your digestive tract. An intact gut flora reduces inflammation, boosts immunity, and guards against long-term illnesses. Over the course of the 12-week eating plan that included avocados, the gut microbiome improved, with an increase in the quantity and diversity of microbes overall, supporting gut health. Additionally, the waste discharged more fat even though this meal plan marginally increased the calories. Put differently, the fat in avocados did not enter the bloodstream through the gut, which could be another way avocados help with weight management.
3. Supports in Body Weight Management
It’s untrue to say that eating fat causes weight growth. Consuming good fats is a smart way to control your weight. Healthy weight management has been associated with the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of plant-based lipids, such as those found in avocados. Consuming avocados on a regular basis may assist you in maintaining a healthy weight even if you don’t cut calories. Regular avocado eaters typically consume less processed food and more fruits and vegetables, which results in a more nutrient-dense diet, lower body weight, and a smaller waist circumference than non-eaters. You consume more soluble and insoluble fibre when you eat avocados. The digestion and absorption of ingested lipids and carbs are slowed down by soluble fibre.
4. Reduces Risks of Diabetes
When you have insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes, your body generates more insulin to reduce blood sugar the higher your blood glucose level climbs. When you include avocado in your meals, you can stop your blood sugar and insulin from increasing after eating. The rise in insulin and glucose is stopped by adding even half an avocado. Consuming avocados over time may also help reduce visceral fat, or belly fat. Visceral fat is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and serves as padding for the organs in your abdomen. Try substituting avocados for the calories from carbohydrates; you’ll gain the extra nutrients and reduce your intake of carbohydrates.
5. Keeps Your Heart Safe
Eating avocados can improve your lipid profile, which can protect your heart. For those who are overweight or obese, eating one avocado per day for five weeks lowers total cholesterol, raises “good” cholesterol (high-density lipoproteins, or HDL), and lowers “bad” cholesterol (low-density lipoproteins, or LDL). Regular avocado consumption improves lipid profile by increasing HDL and decreasing triglycerides and LDL. Potassium is one of the micronutrients found in avocados that helps lower blood pressure. Treating high blood pressure may involve striking a balance between lowering sodium and raising potassium.