Know your Local Fruits and their health benefits: Series Two – Avocado Pear
Health Benefits of Avocado Pear
Avocado pear has a range of noteworthy health benefits which are mostly supported by scientific research.
These benefits extend from the internal parts of the human body to the skin.
1. Helps in Weight Loss
It contains fewer calories and a good quantity of fiber which makes it very good for weight management.
When trying to lose weight, the number of calories consumed should be less than the one burn off in order not to gain back the same amount of fat you already burn off.
Scientific researches made by some women showed that adding 50 grams of avocado pear to daily food menu is a perfect addition to the weight loss diet.
According to the research, adding half of the avocado pear to your lunch helped to thwart late afternoon cravings in 22% of women out of 24% who practiced.
2. Good For Men’s Health
Certain foods can actually crank up the hormonal levels of men. Avocado pear is one of the fruits containing these properties that increase libido when consumed.
This characteristic of helping to arouse sex drive makes it valuable for men’s health.
The presence of essential minerals and aphrodisiac properties in this fruit contributes greatly to this aspect. Vitamin B-6, monosaturated fats, minerals help to push up sex drive and boost energy needed for sexual fun.
Avocado pear is also a good source of omega-3 fatty acid that helps to improve mood as well as stimulates sexual desire.
3. Moisturizes the Skin
Avocado fruit helps to improve health and general outlook. A monosaturated fatty acid found in this fruit helps to moisturize the skin, whereas the oil in it contains vitamin E, A, B, C, K and other vital nutrients including lecithin and potassium which helps to treat skin flaws like acne, wrinkles and generally, nourish the skin.
This makes it very good for beauty products such as face mask cream, body lotions, and related others when eaten as a whole fruit, boiled or applied topically on the skin.
Experiments have proved avocado fruits worthy of removing face wrinkles, treating pimples, whitening the skin, hydrating dry skin and clearing off dark spots using face masking method.
4. Prevents Liver Damage
Avocado fruit is rich in healthy fat that helps to protect the liver from damage and certain illnesses due to the presence of some nutrients that contribute to the proper functioning of the liver and overall liver protection.
It is an ideal fatty diet for the liver due to the presence of antioxidants such as vitamin C and vitamin E as well as significant minerals, zinc, and certain chemicals that slow liver damage. It also helps in protecting and cleansing the cells of the liver from certain poisons.
5. Good for Heart Health
Avocado fruit is healthy for the heart in the sense that it balances the level of cholesterol in the body. It is a potassium-rich fruit that helps to reduce the risk of heart diseases such as stroke, hypertension, and others.
Adding just a bit of avocado to your daily diet helps to reduce the level of Low-DensityLipoprotein (LDL) in the blood and improve the High-densityLipoprotein (HDL), which is the good cholesterol in the body.
6. Help Stop Arthritis
Avocado anti-oxidants help in reducing the anti-oxidative stress that can cause damage to the cartilage-bone due to this effect; it suppresses arthritis and also helps to treat the symptoms.
7. Good For Eye Health
Keeps the eyes healthy in other words protects the eyesight because it contains lutein and zeaxanthin which are antioxidants that help to maintain healthy cell within the eyes.
These strong antioxidants help to reduce the risk of cataracts and other age-related illnesses which affect the eyes because they act as natural supplements for supporting eye health.
8. Prevents Oral Cancer
Scientific researches proved that there are certain nutrients present in avocado that helps in preventing oral cancer and at the same time combat other pre-cancerous cells.
Avocados are considered great cancer-fighting fruits because of the result of the studies carried out by a university department which proved that the fruit has some anti-cancer potential properties such as phytochemicals.
9. Stops Morning Sickness During Pregnancy
Avocados help to overcome nausea and morning sicknesses during pregnancy due to its folic acid and vitamin B content.
This early morning sickness during pregnancy, in other words, called hyperemesis gravidarum is what almost every mum experiences but avocado is a natural and traditional remedy to it.
10. Use As Ingredients In Food
Important nutritional contents found in avocado pear makes it great when blended with other ingredients for food, especially when used as a salad for eating rice.
It is also used in making some recipes because of the creamy, fatty oily and fleshy taste; the texture and taste make it great as a food recipe.
Avocado pear is a super-food with low sugar content that prevents bad breath. It contains nutritional calories and essential compounds such as xanthophylls and many others that contribute to healthy aging and longevity.
Half of the avocado pear which is equivalent to 68 grams in weight is said to contain 109 calories which are a correspondence 160 calories to 100 grams.
Avocado Seeds
The seed of avocado fruit is not poisonous in any way instead they are known for medicinal and lifestyle characteristics. Most times, they are sliced and left under the sun to dry very well before been ground into powdered form.
In this form, it is used in managing high blood pressure when used in pap and can also be taken as weight loss tea; avocado seed powder has proven its effect on high blood pressure on the experiment.
Just as the skin, bark, and leaves of avocado trees; the seed contains a fungicidal toxin called Persin that prevents fungi parasites from attacking the body.
Therefore, avocado seeds are not poisonous except when consumed in excess although there is no scientific back upon whether these seeds are poisonous or not.
Nutritional Contents in Avocado Pears & Values
| Nutrients | Amount |
| Energy | 160 Kcal |
| Carbohydrates | 8.53g |
| Protein | 2.0g |
| Total fat | 14.66g |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg |
| Dietary Fibre | 6.7g |
| Folates | 81mg |
| Niacin | 1.738mg |
| Pantothenic acid | 1.389 mg |
| pyridoxine | 0.257mg |
| Riboflavin | 0.130mg |
| Thiamin | 0.067mg |
| Vitamin A | 0.00365mg |
| Vitamin C | 10mg |
| Vitamin E | 2.07mg |
| Vitamin K | 0.021mg |
| Sodium | 7mg |
| Potassium | 485mg |
| Calcium | 12mg |
| Iron | 0.55 mg |
| Magnesium | 29 mg |
| Manganese | 0.142mg |
| Zinc | 0.64mg |
| Carotene-ß | 62 µg |
| Selenium | 0.0004mg |
| Phosphorus | 52mg |
| Carotene-&alpha | 24 µg |
| Cryptoxanthin-ß | 28 µg |
| Lutein-zeaxanthin | 271 µg |
Avocados are rich in vitamins A, E, B, C and K, minerals, monounsaturated fatty acids and several other healthy compounds and nutrients such as antioxidants, calories, omega-3 fatty acids, carbohydrate, little sugar, and fiber.
What is Avocado Pear?
This tropical fruit is packed full of nutrition that contributes to human health and lifestyle.
The dull yellowish-green meat of the fruit is quite proteinous and as beneficial as the egg-shaped seed at the center called the stone or pit.
It is an edible seed and also used as medicine in curing different types of ill health which hypertension is majorly one of them.
Avocado pears are found in the tropics and have the content of several essential nutrients that are beneficial to health such are minerals and vitamins.
How to Consume Avocado
Other healthy nutrients contained in avocado helps also in quick digestion as well as reduce constipation. Avocado pears are used to toast bread, in salad and in making different types of healthy and delicious recipes.
People who are not lovers of this fruit don’t really know how they will start eating it and most times ask to know how to eat this avocado pear.
To eat a tropical avocado pear in its raw form, first of all, cut into equal halves then scoop with spoon OR cut the pear into two, then peel the back and cut the fleshy meat into smaller chunks.
You can sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper on it if you wish or enjoy the fruit by eating it like that.
Side Effect
Although avocado pears contain essential nutrients that can treat skin and health problems it shouldn’t be consumed excessively because it can cause gastrointestinal disorder and other side effects when taken in excess. Even sweeteners, such as sugar when taken in excess can cause health problems.
Conclusion
Avocado pears serve as a weight loss diet, helps to improve the sexual hormone, moisturizes the skin, prevent liver damage, balances cholesterol in the body.
It also suppresses arthritis, good for eye health, prevents oral cancer, stopping early morning sickness during pregnancy and serves as tasty ingredients in foods.
It is a very good source of vitamins C, E, K and B-6 such that it helps to treat vitamin K deficiency and more.
Most times they are being referred to as nutrient-dense food because the vitamin content in it is close to 20 and thereby offering abundant nutritional benefits.
Credit: finlib.com, Abuja, Lagos @ 2017
