Healthy benefits of avocado

The attractiveness of the avocado as a subsistence and modern food is due to good vitamin and mineral content, high energy content derived principally from mono-unsaturated fats, and good supply of soluble and insoluble fibers, all of which make it one of the most nutritious fruit available.

Avocado contains a monosaturated fat called oleic acid, this is believed to lower total and LDL cholesterol levels and promote the good HDL cholesterol, it also protects against breast cancer.

Avocados can help to protect against high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke because of they have a high content of the mineral potassium which guards against these diseases.

Avocado also high in iron and magnesium.

The high concentration of carotenoids and tocopherols within avocados are known to protect against prostrate cancer.

The Aztecs used the avocado for its aphrodisiac qualities and believed or could improve sexual prowess when consumed. There was unconfirmed reports tell about the successful use of avocado an an aphrodisiac by lower Amazon Basin who prefer the fruit to more readily available marijuana.

Half of an average size avocado contains about 180 calories and can be used in salads, dips, garnishes, soups sandwiches or just eaten plain with a fork or spoon.
Healthy benefits of avocado

Fruit of Avocado: The History

Avocados are the chief ingredient in "guacamole". The Aztec depended on the avocado as a staple in their diet and gave it a name based on the fact that its shape is similar to the male anatomy – ‘ahuacatl’ or ‘testicles.’

The fruit was early recorded in Mayan and Aztec picture writing from 290 BC.

It was first recorded in English in 1697. The English name of avocado, is a modification of the Spanish name, ‘aguacate’ or ‘ahuacate’ which derived from the word ‘ahuacatl’.

Avocados are also referred to as the Alligator Pear because of there shape and leathery skin.

Avocados are the fruit from a tall evergreen tree called the Persea Americana, there are many different varieties of avocado and they generally fit into three main categories, the West Indian, the Guatemalan and the Mexican which all differ in size and flavour.

Domestication and selection of this crop have gone on in Mexico for a period of 10,000 years. Ancestors of cultivated avocados were utilized as a food by hunter gatherer as early as 8000 BC.

The Spanish invaders reported finding avocados growing from northern Mexico though Central America and down into South America, where they had been cultivated since 8000 BC.

Avocado were then introduced to Jamaica sometime in the mid seventeenth century. When the English arrived in Jamaica, they called the avocado alligator pear.

They are not introduced to the United States until the early 20th century, when they were first planted in California and Florida.
Fruit of Avocado: The History

Avocado and Health Benefits

Avocado and Health Benefits
Avocado is a very dense fruit, packed with nutrients. It is especially rich in vitamin A. It also contains plenty of B vitamins, especially, folic acid, calcium, iron, 9 essential amino acids and a mountain of potassium.

The avocado has shown to benefit circulation, lower cholesterol and dilate blood vessels. It’s true that avocados are high in fat – one reason they’ve earned the nick name “butter pear.” But it’s primary fat, monounsaturated oleic acid ((also concentrated in olive oil), acts as an antioxidant to block LDL cholesterol.

In 1996 study in Mexico showed that from 45 subjects who ate avocados every day for just one week experienced an average of 17 percent drop in total blood cholesterol. They cholesterol ratio also changed in a healthy way: Their LDL (low density lipoprotein) and triglycerides dropped significantly while their HDL (high density lipoprotein) levels climbed.

Avocados are also rich in beta-sitosterol which was shown to reduce cholesterol in human studies. Beta sitosterol is a widely prescribed anti-cholesterol drug that interferes with cholesterol absorption, but has serious side effects. Avocados have four times the amount found in oranges that had previously been cited as the richest fruit source of beta sitosterol.

Avocado has been found to have three times the amount of glutathione than in any other fruit. Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant shown to block thirty different carcinogens and to block the proliferation of the AIDS virus in test tube experiments. Studies have revealed a strong correlation between increased glutathione intakes (from food) an decreased risk of oral and pharyngeal cancer.
Avocado and Health Benefits