HEALTHY PERSPECTIVE: Avocado health benefit awareness is paradigm shift
HEALTHY PERSPECTIVE: Avocado health benefit awareness is paradigm shift
Remember when avocados weren't good for you? Well, actually, they were always good for you, but there was a time when lots of food writers and even nutritionists didn't think so. Because of their high oil content, they were thought to be fattening and hard on the arteries, so to speak.
But avocados benefited enormously from a vast accumulation of scientific studies over the last decade or two, differentiating between what are now frequently referred to as "good fats" and "bad fats," and confirming that the oils in avocados are actually the healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated types, including omega-3 fatty acids, which are important in the diet.
Thanks in large measure to the public relations campaigns of organizations such as the California Avocado Commission, those important facts are now widely recognized. Only rarely now does one see an article questioning the advisability of eating avocados. Rather, references to how important it is to include in the diet the kinds of oils found in avocados abound in newspapers and magazines. It has been a major paradigm shift and, from a marketing perspective, a highly successful public relations effort. It is undoubtedly one reason that avocado consumption in the United States has doubled in less than a decade.
As an example of that PR outreach, a press release issued by the commission in October 2003 stated: "Today's nutrition science reveals three steps to a healthier heart: replacing 'bad' fats with 'good' fats, increasing omega-3 fatty acid intake and consuming a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. California avocados meet all three.
"Uniquely, avocados are one of few fruits that provide 'good' fats. Unsaturated fats like monounsaturated fat found in avocados have been linked to a reduced risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Avocados also contain polyunsaturated fat, which includes omega-3 fatty acids that can protect against heart disease, depression and Alzheimer's disease.
"Replacing artery-clogging saturated fat in the diet with unsaturated fat can easily be accomplished by incorporating versatile California avocados into a healthy diet."
But there are many more health-related reasons to include avocados in one's diet in addition to the beneficial unsaturated fats they contain, which ongoing research is revealing. For example, avocados have been found to contain a number of phytochemicals that are believed to have beneficial effects on the prevention of certain types of cancers.
In 2005, researchers at the University of California-Los Angeles published a study in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. According to a commission press release, those research findings "indicate that nutrients in avocados can work together to inhibit the growth of prostate cancer cells."
That study also identified avocados as "the richest source of lutein among commonly eaten fruits." Lutein is a carotenoid that acts as an antioxidant and that has been linked to reduced risk of prostate cancer in previous studies, but the UCLA study suggested that the combination of lutein and other nutrients in avocados are more effective than lutein alone.
Other studies have shown lutein to be beneficial in helping to protect against eye diseases such as cataracts and macular degeneration.
Avocados also contain vitamin C, vitamin E, an antioxidant called glutathione, and beta-sitosterol that helps lower blood cholesterol.
A 2005 Ohio State University study showed that avocados act as a nutrient booster, allowing the body to absorb significantly more heart-healthy and cancer-fighting nutrients like alpha-cartone, beta-carotene and lycopene, which are found in various fruits and vegetables. "Our latest research shows that the natural fat content in avocados increases carotenoid absorption," said Steven Schwartz, an Ohio State researcher.
More recently, researchers at Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center have found that extracts from Hass avocados can kill or stop the growth of "pre- cancerous cells that lead to oral cancer." The findings may also have implications for other types of cancer, according Steven M. D'Ambrosio, editor of the journal Seminars in Cancer Biology and a collaborator in the Ohio State study.
"The future is ripe for identifying fruits and vegetables and individual phytonutrients with cancer-preventing activity," Mr. D'Ambrosio wrote in a September 2007 editorial in the journal. Avocados, he said, are loaded with beneficial antioxidants and other phytonutrients and are a healthy addition to any diet.
(For more on California avocados, see the Feb. 25 issue of The Produce News.)
But avocados benefited enormously from a vast accumulation of scientific studies over the last decade or two, differentiating between what are now frequently referred to as "good fats" and "bad fats," and confirming that the oils in avocados are actually the healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated types, including omega-3 fatty acids, which are important in the diet.
Thanks in large measure to the public relations campaigns of organizations such as the California Avocado Commission, those important facts are now widely recognized. Only rarely now does one see an article questioning the advisability of eating avocados. Rather, references to how important it is to include in the diet the kinds of oils found in avocados abound in newspapers and magazines. It has been a major paradigm shift and, from a marketing perspective, a highly successful public relations effort. It is undoubtedly one reason that avocado consumption in the United States has doubled in less than a decade.
As an example of that PR outreach, a press release issued by the commission in October 2003 stated: "Today's nutrition science reveals three steps to a healthier heart: replacing 'bad' fats with 'good' fats, increasing omega-3 fatty acid intake and consuming a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. California avocados meet all three.
"Uniquely, avocados are one of few fruits that provide 'good' fats. Unsaturated fats like monounsaturated fat found in avocados have been linked to a reduced risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Avocados also contain polyunsaturated fat, which includes omega-3 fatty acids that can protect against heart disease, depression and Alzheimer's disease.
"Replacing artery-clogging saturated fat in the diet with unsaturated fat can easily be accomplished by incorporating versatile California avocados into a healthy diet."
But there are many more health-related reasons to include avocados in one's diet in addition to the beneficial unsaturated fats they contain, which ongoing research is revealing. For example, avocados have been found to contain a number of phytochemicals that are believed to have beneficial effects on the prevention of certain types of cancers.
In 2005, researchers at the University of California-Los Angeles published a study in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. According to a commission press release, those research findings "indicate that nutrients in avocados can work together to inhibit the growth of prostate cancer cells."
That study also identified avocados as "the richest source of lutein among commonly eaten fruits." Lutein is a carotenoid that acts as an antioxidant and that has been linked to reduced risk of prostate cancer in previous studies, but the UCLA study suggested that the combination of lutein and other nutrients in avocados are more effective than lutein alone.
Other studies have shown lutein to be beneficial in helping to protect against eye diseases such as cataracts and macular degeneration.
Avocados also contain vitamin C, vitamin E, an antioxidant called glutathione, and beta-sitosterol that helps lower blood cholesterol.
A 2005 Ohio State University study showed that avocados act as a nutrient booster, allowing the body to absorb significantly more heart-healthy and cancer-fighting nutrients like alpha-cartone, beta-carotene and lycopene, which are found in various fruits and vegetables. "Our latest research shows that the natural fat content in avocados increases carotenoid absorption," said Steven Schwartz, an Ohio State researcher.
More recently, researchers at Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center have found that extracts from Hass avocados can kill or stop the growth of "pre- cancerous cells that lead to oral cancer." The findings may also have implications for other types of cancer, according Steven M. D'Ambrosio, editor of the journal Seminars in Cancer Biology and a collaborator in the Ohio State study.
"The future is ripe for identifying fruits and vegetables and individual phytonutrients with cancer-preventing activity," Mr. D'Ambrosio wrote in a September 2007 editorial in the journal. Avocados, he said, are loaded with beneficial antioxidants and other phytonutrients and are a healthy addition to any diet.
(For more on California avocados, see the Feb. 25 issue of The Produce News.)
