Avocado Nutritional Information & Facts

Originally native to South America, there are various varieties of avocado. The Hass avocado being the most eaten variety of avocado. While certain avocado varieties will have different nutrients, offering slight variations in nutritional information profiles, there are a lot of overlaps.

Avocados are underrated as a source of essential nutrients such as amino acids and healthy fats. They are also a source of some phytochemicals that are thought to also be beneficial for your health. Studies using avocados have discovered that they may be beneficial for weight control, optimal brain functioning, digestive health and skin health too.

As people have caught on to this, international trade in avocados has doubled in the last 6 years or so. If you are looking to eat or add more avocados to your diet then you certainly aren’t alone.

We’ll look at some of the core nutritional information of avocado fruits, some tips for their use, the ripening process and recipes.

Avocado Nutritional Content

Lets start by summarizing the known nutritional information and content of avocados. The avocado fruit contains good amounts of essential nutrients such as vitamins A, B, K and C. In addition, avocado is a good food source of essential minerals providing 32.8mg of magnesium, 576mg of potassium, 0.285mg of copper, 42mg of phosphorus and zinc at 0.46mg per 100g of avocado fruit. Avocado fruit therefore provides many micro-nutrients, offering a nutrient dense food option.

Phosphorus forms the backbone of the cellular framework, while copper contributes to healthy brain functioning and zinc has a duty as an antioxidant.

This fruit is a healthy fibre source and contains complex antioxidants such as beta carotene too. Beta carotene is a provitamin A form, that protects from the oxidation of fat molecules.

Avocado also contains lutein and zeaxanthin, these are also carotenoids that protect the eyes from degenerative damage. They could protect other body systems too, such as the heart.

calorific content of Avocados

The energy or calorific content of 100g of avocado was reported to be 167kcal.

Amino Acids in Avocados

The amino acid profile of avocado forms a massive part of its overall nutritional content, let look at the information currently available. Avocados are rich sources of specific amino acids, this could be because of their unique fruit development.

The total protein content of avocados is 1.96 grams per 100 grams of avocado. The strongest amino acids per 100g of avocado are proline, 0.096g, glutamic acid 0.28g, aspartic acid, 0.23g and serine at 0.112g per 100g.

Glutamic Acid

Glutamic acid is the major excitatory transmitter in the brain. It is also one of the 20 amino acids that form our body proteins.

Because it is so prevalent, regular amounts of this amino acid are needed. Moreover, it seems to be implicated in cancer pathways. When glucose levels are depleted, glutamic acid can step in to takeover with an emergency respiration and energy production pathway.

Tryptophan

Compared to other foods, the fruits of avocados are rich sources of the amino acid tryptophan. Tryptophan is a rate limiting amino acid in protein synthesis and one of the 20 amino acids needed for normal cell function.

Tryptophan is essential to the initiation of protein forming and therefore cell repair, maintenance and muscle cell formation. The amino acid tryptophan contains an indole group, being the only essential amino acid to do so. This emphasises the importance of healthy nutritional sources of tryptophan.

As a result, this amino acid is vital for muscle recovery from exercise. Building stores of tryptophan is important, because of the low bioavailability of this amino acid.

Deficiencies in tryptophan can cause pellagra, a metabolic disorder, as it is implicated in nicotinamide or B3 formation which is a key energy vitamin. This is how tryptophan deficiency usually presents itself. Your recommended minimum RDA for tryptophan is 5mg per kilo body weight a day.

In addition, this amino acid is heavily implicated in the production of melatonin and serotonin. These are neuroactive hormones that encourage healthy sleep-wake patterns, while serotonin is also implicated in normal mood sensations. They are also implicated in balanced mental wellbeing.

Proline

Certain studies have suggested that avocados are rich in proline too. Proline is not one of the essential amino acids for basic cell functions, however it has a vital function within cell protein structure for added strength and features in reduction reactions in the body.

This amino acid forms collagen, an essential part of healthy cartilage for movement and skin appearance. In addition, proline has a role as an antioxidant.

Healthy Fats in Avocados

There is a lot of recent knowledge concerning information on the density and spread of nutritional healthy fats throughout avocado fruits. Avocados are a source of healthy fats, building up large amounts of fatty acids during the growth and development of the fruit that convert to unique TAG fat molecules. The dominant oil in the fruit is oleic acid. Oleic acid is the dominant oil in olive oil too, so avocado naturally shares some of those health benefits.

It is a unique fruit, in that it is a fruit rich in oils. Most fruits accumulate sugars rather than oils.

Saturated to unsaturated fat levels

Among all the top consumed dietary fat sources, avocados contain one of the highest ratios of unsaturated to saturated fats. The avocado fruit is rich in monounsaturated and longer chain polyunsaturated fats, which have health benefits when consumed at a ripe or non-rancid stage in the shelf life of the fruit.

While eating rancid, or off fats, have health consequences, eating healthy fats is good for you and in moderation. Healthy fats are also essential for your overall health and wellbeing. Fats are used in the synthesis of some of your basic bodily hormones, cells and tissues.

benefits of healthy fatty acids & fats

Fatty acids form cell membranes too and are implicated in optimal skin health. Studies in women have proven that avocados can improve the elasticity and firmness of the skin, through healthier body fatty acid profiles and beta carotene.

Healthy fats are needed for optimum brain function. Eating more avocados has been correlated with improved brain speed and function. These effects are seen particularity in the front area of the brain.

Some studies also suggest that the types of polyunsaturated fatty acids found in avocados are implicated in the reduction of cardiovascular or heart diseases. Oleic acid, the dominant oil in avocados, may have a calming effect on inflammation and autoimmune responses.

Where the lipids or fats in certain individuals are unhealthy, avocados have been clinically proven to correct some of these fat profiles to more healthy ones.

Digestive Fibres

In addition to healthy longer chain fats, avocado fruits contain pectins in addition to some healthy digestive plant fibres, like hemicellulose.

Digestive fibres, like those in avocados, promote the presence of healthy gut microbes for improved overall health and lean weight. Many people are also deficient in dietary fibre, with avocados providing a healthy serving.

Buying & Using Avocados

Avocados are a food that you can quite easily introduce into your diet, being very versatile in the meals you can include them in.

Avocado Ripening Process

The avocado fruits are typically picked when they aren’t ripe, with that process occurring after they are removed from the tree.

When you buy your avocados, you ideally want to pick them when they still feel slightly hard. This is so that when you eat them, they soften later and are then are more ripe to eat. This will also preserve the nutrients in the avocado fruit for longer before you use the fruit, because of the ripening process.

The longer you leave the avocado fruit to ripen, the less nutrients there will be and the more rancid the oils in the fruit will go. Eventually the fruit starts to oxidize and turns dark brown.

If you have never eaten an avocado, be aware you need to peel them. There is an extra large stone in the centre of the avocado fruit too. The skin peels away quite easily for you to use the inner green avocado fruit. It is best to cut the fruit into even slices to use in your meal or meals.

Classic Avocado Recipes

Using avocados is really easy and fun too. This is a classic south American fruit and can be used to make guacamole. This is a fruit pulp or mash made from deseeded avocados. You just need lime, lemon, chopped tomato, chillies and cilantro.

You can find a nice recipe here from simply recipes.

One can also finely chop avocado and mix it into a nice salad with some olive oil, cucumbers and sea salt.

Another simple recipe is avocado toast, all you need is bread. Just cut and spread the avocados on toast. You’ll need to allow the avocados to ripen slightly and become soft first to do this as otherwise the fruit won’t spread properly. Simply mix in a bowl with a fork and spoon and you have your meal.

Conclusion

Avocado presents itself as a food rich in essential nutrients, including some key amino acids, antioxidants and healthy fats.

Of these the healthy fat content of avocados is most impressive. Avocados contain one of the highest unsaturated to saturated fat contents of all the major foods eaten. Fatty acids and fats form essential parts within our cells, such as cell membranes. They are therefore essential nutritional molecules. This is because it is an oil fruit and not a sugar-based fruit.

Avocado also seems to have its own ripening protection effect, with ripening being something to keep in mind when buying avocados.

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