5 Health Benefits of Avocado: Facts, Tips, Recipes

Updated on August 3, 2022

You all know what avocado is. And probably that it is pretty much healthy. Here you will find 5 health benefits of avocado based on facts. I promise, this article will make you want to include more avocados in your diet! I will mention best ways to serve and store avocado in the end.

If you don’t know what’s avocado, it is a large and tasty berry that originates from Mexico and also called alligator pear. Thanks, Wikipedia! Now to the health benefits of avocado.

Eating Avocado a Day keeps a Doctor Away?

We all know this old saying about apple. But what makes you more full – apple or avocado? Well, right, avocado has healthy fats and minerals, but also more calories.

You probably saw that girl on different weight loss ads, showing her lean stomach and holding an apple. It doesn’t mean that you don’t need an apple or two a day.

However, recently, inspired by Mediterranean diet, we’ve started adding more avocados in our diet. I prefer it in salads, but you can also serve it more interesting – an avocado cake or avocado burger maybe?

We’ll get to the avocado recipes and tricks later, let’s start with avocado health benefits that will assure you to include more of these fruits (yes, it’s a fruit) in your diet.

First of all, avocado contains healthy fats, which will make you feel full and prevent from grabbing unhealthy snack. According to USDA (1) avocado contains 70% water, 2% protein, 14% fat, 8 % carbs, 6 % fiber.

What are the health benefits of avocado that you should know? There are many! But we can group it into different sections like vitamins, minerals and calories.

Avocado contains vitamins

Accordindg to USDA (1), a serving of fresh avocado contains 9 vitamins.

Ok, you know the number, but what are these vitamins?

Here are the vitamins that you get, eating an avocado and their value per 100g:

• K (phylloquinone) – 21 µg.
  It is good for bone health (2)
• B6 – 0,26 mg.
  According to survey (3), vitamin B6 (26% RDA) helps to fight morning sickness during the pregnancy.
• C – 10 mg.
  Good fighting against stroke (4) and prevent infections (5)
• A – 7 µg
  Good for your eyesight, bones, immune system (6)
• B1 (Thiamin) – 0,07 mg
  Fights against Alzheimer’ s disease and heart failure (7)
• B2 (Riboflavin) – 0.13 mg
  This vitamin is a treasure for your eyesight and skin, fights against migraines (8)
• B9 (Folate) – 81 µg
  Fights against cancer, heart disease and depression (9)
• E (alpha-tocopherol) – 2,07 mg,
  Good for eyesight, mental health, fights against cancer and heart disease (10)
• B3 (Niacin) – 1,74 mg
  Lowers bad cholesterol, prevents heart diseases, improves skin and brain function (11)

The richest nutrient intake in avocado are vitamins K (26%), B9 (20%) and C (17%). (12)

Avocado is rich in minerals

According to NND (1), avocado contains 7 minerals.

Here is the value of minerals that you usually find in 100g of avocado:

• Calcium – 12mg
• Iron – 0,55 mg
• Magnesium – 29 mg
• Phosphorus – 52 mg
• Potassium – 485 mg
• Sodium – 7 mg
• Zinc – 0,64 mg

The biggest daily value of minerals or 14 % in avocado belongs to potassium (12). Potassium plays a massive role blood pressure regulation, cardiovascular health, bone and muscle strength. (13)

Calories that you need for weight loss

Keep in mind that avocado has many calories, which are actually healthy. These calories will keep you satisfied and full for longer. Eating just 100g avocado (without skin and pit, of course) will give you about 160 calories, depending on its size.

Moreover, one of the studies (16) found, that overweight people, who consume half of avocado in lunch, decrease their desire to eat (including unhealthy treats) by 30% for 3-5 hours.

Fats in avocado are beneficial for weight management!

Less pesticides

According to EWG, avocados are N1 in the clean 15 list of produce that is least likely to contain pesticides (14). Consumption of avocado doesn’t poison your health.

Health benefits of avocado: improvements and prevention

After I studied all the trusted resources that I mention here and more, I can give a brief sum up of health benefits of avocado – all that it improves and prevents.

Avocado is good for skin care, heart and eye sight, relieving stress, it treats insomnia, diabetes and regulates blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Avocado also has anti-inflammatory and anti-aging properties.

Moreover, avocado decreases the risk of obesity, osteoporosis, depression and even cancer.

Avocado is good for detox and improving digestion.

According to NCBI (15), avocado consumption leads to better quality diet and lowers metabolic syndrome (risk of heart and diabetes type 2 diseases).

Here is the list of health benefits of avocado:

Avocado improves:

• skin
• eye sight
• digestion
• mental health
• brain function
• immune system
• bone health

Avocado fights against:

• heart disease
• diabetes type 1 and type 2
• inflammation
• obesity
• depression
• cancer
• osteoporosis
• stress
• insomnia
• morning sickness

But if you have one of these problems or risk factors, don’t rely on avocado, seek for medical advice.

How to include avocado in your diet? 6 Simple avocado recipes.

You don’t need to be a cook to start adding avocados in your diet to improving digestion, getting vitamins B6, weight loss or whatever the reason.

Need some tasty, delicious, simple avocado recipes? I’ll share some of my favorite ways to use avocado.

1. Make an avocado toastie (rolling eyes). So simple to make a healthy start of the day! I love to use whole wheat bread slice. Arrange avocado slices and sprinkle some chia seeds on top. So good with a perfectly poached egg on top!
2. Avocado smoothie. Green smoothie is a simple and filling start of the day.
3. Salads. Make a salad for every day. Include some leafy greens, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper. I love adding boiled quail eggs to the salad. Check also our Chicken avocado salad and Halloumi avocado salad.
4. Make a healthy snack. Vegan Avocado burger is perfect for lunch or as a healthy snack between the meals.
5. Guacamole and Avocado pesto. Should I tell you that it is healthier to dip sweet potato, eggplant and carrot slices instead of nachos?
6. Make a dessert with avocado! Whaat? Yes, you can make and Vegan Avocado Cake – a healthy dessert for every day or special celebration! Avocado chocolate mousse is another delicious and easy idea.

You should also consider adding avocado oil in your diet!

Don’t follow the trends of cooking and grilling avocado! It doesn’t improve the taste at all and you may loose all the benefits of avocado. Always use it freshly cut on top of your dish or mashed and mixed with other ingredients.

By the way, there were no studies that confirm that avocado seed is safe for human consumption. However you can dry out the seed, pulverize it and add in tea or smoothies. But there is no proven benefit in a long run.

Quick tip – how to store avocado

Keep it in room temperature until it is ripe. To speed up ripening process, put it in the paper bag with an apple. When avocado is ripe, but you’re not ready to eat it – put it in the fridge.

Quick tip – how to cut and prepare avocado

Usually I cut it lengthwise, remove the pit and scoop it with a teaspoon. If you want to cut it for the salad, just remove the flesh with a tablespoon, then cut it into smaller pieces.

To stop it from browning, brush with lemon juice.

Congratulations! If you read this, you know health benefits of avocado and how to use it!

Do you have another way you eat avocado? Let us know in the comments below!