For day four of my series on foods for brain health, I bring you one of my favourite fruits – avocado.
These lovely green or black-skinned egg-shaped fruits have a fantastic fat profile with high levels of monounsaturated fat, oleic acid, and the polyunsaturated fat, linoleic acid. As discussed in the almond and walnut post, these fats help manage cholesterol levels and can help decrease inflammatory LDL cholesterol. In fact one medium avocado has the same lipid profile as extra virgin olive oil.
But it’s not just the fats that make avocado awesome on the nutrient side. They have many other fantastic nutrients that support the brain (and whole body).
- B vitamins niacin, riboflavin, B6, folate and pantothenic acid
- The phytonutrient leutin (we saw how that helps the brain in the leafy greens post)
- Vitamin C and E – fantastic antioxidants
- Potassium
- Fibre
At first glance, it’s not so easier to see the fibre content. But there’s lots there. If you open an ageing avocado, you’ll notice lots of woody fibrous strands. That’s a bit too much fibre to be enjoyable! But in a pleasantly ripe fruit, the fibre content is still impressive with around 6.7g of fibre per 100g portion. Containing both soluble and insoluble fibre, avocados are therefore good for the microbiome and functions like maintaining blood glucose levels and blood pressure. These all affect brain health.
Equally, the potassium content is a surprise to many. A 100g serving (half an avocado) has the same as 3 bananas. Potassium helps support blood pressure. In the Western diet, sodium levels tend to be much higher than potassium due to the high animal products and processed foods consumed. In health, the ratio should be the other way round – potassium intake higher than sodium. Eating avocado is a start to redress this balance.
With all these wonderful nutrients, it seems obvious that avocados are good for brain heath. But what does the research say? One study in the US showed that older adults who ate avocado or guacamole had significantly higher recall and cognition that those who did not. And it’s not just the elderly. Another study focused on overweight and obese young to middle-aged adults (obesity seems to affect cognitive abilities) showed a significant improvement in concentration and cognition after 12 weeks of eating an avocado a day. Horray!
What about avocado oil?
I hear much about the benefits of using avocado oil in cooking. The nutrient profile is very similar to olive oil; cold pressed unrefined avocado oil provides similar benefits as extra virgin olive oil. However, refined avocado oil is heated and put through a chemical process to remove flavour and aromas; this process also removes most of the nutrient benefits apart from the fat.
Further, fans of avocado oil recommend it as a quality cooking oil. However, as with all oil, if placed in a pan over a direct heat, the high temperature affects the structure of the oil, forming inflammatory compounds that affect the body – and brain – negatively. If you are going to use avocado oil, I suggest adding it after cooking making it more of a garnish. Or use for dressings or sauces that don’t require heating.
My final thought about avocado oil is – why? Avocados are so beautifully delicious as a fruit, why take the tasty best bits out? Not only that but they do have a high environmental impact compared to other food stuffs. I believe we should be using all of the fruit in moderate amounts rather than just taking a small part and wasting the rest. It takes 15-20 avocados to make one small 250ml bottle of avocado oil. To me it doesn’t make environmental, health or economic sense.
What are the best ways of eating avocado?
There’s lots you can use it for (although my favourites are the simplest!)
- Simply mash it on toast. Or embellish it like this
- Add to a green smoothie
- Make guacamole to go with chilli or a tex-mex kind of meal
- Added to wraps
- In sushi
- As part of a salad – this lovely summer salad is particularly good w
- Add it to a salsa like this tasty sweetcorn salsa
- Use it instead of sweet potato to make a chocolate frosting
These are just a few options. There’s many more ways to eat them.
I hope you enjoyed this post. And if you’re not already eating avocados regularly then I hope you’re going to start adding them in to your diet. Your brain (and tummy) will be very happy if you do.
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