The Top 7 Ways Avocado Benefits Your Health

Want to know how the beloved avocado benefits your health? This article outlines the most recent findings in relation to the consumption of avocado, including improved cardio and brain health, enhanced gut microbiome and the optimization of body composition (body fat).

Despite my parents being avocado farmers here in Australia, I didn’t actually eat too many avocados growing up as they are picked and sent to the markets unripe.

However, ever since delving deep into the benefits of avocado, I have started incorporating one avocado per day into my tightly structured and tracked meal plan. This is a big change for me, since 100g of avocado takes up 160 of my precious calories per day.

Why am I so willing to use such a large chunk of my caloric budget on avocado? Well, I have learned that these little green packages contain a wide range of vitamins (for high levels of energy, as well as eye, bone, hair, skin and nail health), oleic acid (healthy fats) for heart health and cognitive function, prebiotic fiber (for digestive and gut health) and highly bioavailable lutein (for brain health).

Avocados are not only delicious, versatile and easy to prepare, they are packed full of nutrition, which can help to improve your life in so many different ways.

This post is all about avocado benefits.

Avocado nutrition

Avocados are botanically classified as a berry. By incorporating one small avocado (or approximately 100g) into your diet per day, this will provide a range of nutrients, including roughly 30-35% of your daily recommended intake of fiber, pantothenic acid, vitamin E and vitamin K and roughly 20% of your daily recommended intake of copper, folate and vitamin B6.

Avocados also provide a notable amount of other nutrients, such as potassium, magnesium, niacin, riboflavin, vitamin C and zinc (roughly 10% of your daily recommended intake).

Avocados contain approximately 15g of fat per 100g, with roughly 10g of this being  monounsaturated fats (mainly oleic acid), which is considered the healthy kind of fat. Avocados also contain antioxidants, such as lutein and zeaxanthin, which are carotenoids.

Avocado benefits

By adding avocado to your diet, this may help to maintain and improve:

1. The gut microbiome – due to its high level of prebiotic fiber, which helps keep gut bacteria satisfied.
2. Heart health and brain function – due to its high level of oleic acid (a healthy fat) and beta-sitosterol (a plant sterol) as well as other key nutrients and antioxidants.
3. Eye health – due to its high level of antioxidants, such as lutein and zeaxanthin.
4. Bone health – due to it’s high level of vitamin K.
5. Energy levels – due to it’s high level of pantothenic acid.
6. Hair health and skin hydration/healing – due to it’s high level of fiber, vitamin E, vitamin K and pantothenic acid and its positive impact on the gut microbiome, which allows the body to eliminate waste and toxins and to better absorb all nutrients.
7. Body composition – due to it’s high level of oleic acid, phytosterols and it’s positive impact on LDL (bad) cholesterol, appetite regulation, insulin sensitivity, the gut microbiome and digestive system. Studies have also shown that eating avocados may decrease the absorption of fats in the digestive tract.

Recent studies on the gut microbiome

One study showed that daily avocado consumption lowered fecal bile acid concentrations, increased fecal fatty acid and short chain fatty acid’s and increased the abundance and diversity of bacteria for fiber fermentation. The study involved the consumption of 175g of hass avocado daily for men and 140g daily for women over a period of 12 weeks.

What does this mean?

• Lowered fecal bile acid concentrations – high levels of fecal bile acid concentrations are correlated with colorectal cancer and inflammation. By consuming avocados, you may see a reduction in inflammation, better digestion and the restoration of the gut microbiome.
• Increased fecal fatty acid and short chain fatty acid’s – these are produced when gut bacteria ferment fiber and may help the body absorb nutrients and regulate blood glucose levels for weight management.
• Increased diversity of microbes and abundance of Faecalibacterium, Lachnospira, and Alistipes – microbes that break down (ferment) fiber and produce metabolites for optimised gut health.

You can read more about studies on avocado here and here.

How to eat avocado

You can add avocado to literally any recipe – sweet or savory. Some of my favorite ways to eat avocado is with eggs and mushrooms (on sourdough toast), in salad, on the side of an English breakfast and in all kinds of chocolate recipes.

Whilst conducting research for this article, I came across a few recipes for avocado mousse that I had to try. This one is very simple, healthy and versatile. I made one for myself and added it to my oatmeal. I also made one for my partner, but added a scoop of chocolate protein powder. I have now decided that I will be eating this daily.

Avocado calories

There are approximately 160 calories in one small avocado (100g).

Avocado Recipes

• 2 avocados (I used 200g)
• 30g raw, unheated cacao powder
• 20g pure maple syrup
• Blend and add to your breakfast. You can also add protein powder, coconut, oats and/or additional maple syrup or raw honey (if this is not sweet enough for you).