Avocado seeds may be just as healthy as the soft green flesh of an avocado fruit. According to many scientific studies, various nutrients found in avocado seeds offer a vast array of health benefits including fighting cancer.
Avocados have become a very popular superfood and for a good reason. Their green flesh is packed with healthy monounsaturated fats, vitamins and antioxidants. Some of the most common health benefits of these nutrients include protecting heart health, optimizing cholesterol levels and supporting skin health.
In addition, avocados help your body absorb fat-soluble nutrients from other foods. This helps prevent weight gain. As well, avocado enhances the absorption of other nutrients such as carotenoids, which offer strong antioxidant properties.
As a result, avocados are now a very common part of a healthy diet. The seed, though, is often tossed away.
Yet, research into the nutritional properties of the avocado seed now shows that the seed may be just as valuable to your health as the fruit. Similar to the avocado meat, the nutrients in seeds also help lower high cholesterol, support a healthy heart, and promote good digestion.
Avocado Seed is a Cancer Fighter
The avocado seed offers many of the similar health benefits as the rest of the avocado. In addition, research shows avocado seed offers nutrients with cancer-fighting properties.
A study published in the journal Cancer Research, evaluated the effect that avocatin B has on cancer. Avocatin B is a lipid that the researchers derived from avocado seed (Persea gratissima). This particular study focused on acute myeloid leukemia (AML), an especially deadly cancer of the blood and bone marrow.
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The research revealed:
Treatment regimens for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) continue to offer weak clinical outcomes. Through a high-throughput cell-based screen, we identified avocatin B, a lipid derived from avocado fruit, as a novel compound with cytotoxic activity in AML. Avocatin B reduced human primary AML cell viability without effect on normal peripheral blood stem cells. Functional stem cell assays demonstrated selectivity toward AML progenitor and stem cells without effects on normal hematopoietic stem cells.
In short, avocatin B seems to attack AML cancer cells without any effect on the normal stem cells that make blood.
Antioxidant Properties of Avocado Seeds
Just as the green part of the avocado fruit, the seed offers many antioxidants. Avocado seeds contain procyanidins, catechins and certain flavonoids, such as quercetin. All of these nutrients have strong antioxidant properties.
A study from the Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn examined the antioxidant properties of an avocado seed. The researchers found that:
“both the seeds and peel of avocado can be utilized as a functional food ingredient or as an antioxidant additive.”
Antioxidants in general neutralize free radicals that cause illness and premature aging. As well, they offer anti-inflammatory benefits, which aides in reducing stiffness and joint pain. Therefore, not only do you live longer, you feel better, too.
Ways to Eat Avocado Seed
Avocado skins and seeds are viewed as food industry by-products. One common was to process avocado seed is to make avocado seed oil.
Many of the avocado oil products are made for the personal care market, though. If you decide to purchase avocado seed oil, look for products labeled avocado seed extract, such as HawaiiPharm’s Avocado Alcohol-FREE Liquid Extract, or for food-grade oil.
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Another option is to dehydrate and, then, grind up or grate the seed. You can easily do this at home. Here’s a short video on how.
Finally, if you don’t want to prepare your own avocado seed powder, you can purchase packaged products, such as Avocado Seed Superfood Supplements’ Powder Capsules and Rewt Foods’ Organic Avocado Seed Powder.
You can sprinkle avocado seed powder into your juices, smoothies, oatmeal, soups and salads. Making a tea infusion out of it is also an option, allowing the seed powder to steep in hot water for 10 minutes.
Sources:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/06/29/avocado-anti-cancer-benefits.aspx
http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/75/12/2478
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22494370
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3249906/
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