Avocados were
once a luxury food reserved for the tables of royalty,
but now avocados are enjoyed around the world by people
from all walks of life.
Research published in the January 2005 issue of the
Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry indicate that
nutrients in avocados can work together to inhibit the
growth of prostate cancer cells. The analysis was
conducted at UCLA where researchers discovered that
avocados are the richest source of lutein among commonly
eaten fruits. Lutein is a carotenoid that acts as an
antioxidant and has been linked to a reduced risk of
prostate cancer in previous studies.
According to Dr. David Heber, director of the UCLA
Center for Human Nutrition, the study focused on
inhibition of human prostate cancer cell growth when
exposed to an extract of whole avocado fruit versus
treatment with pure lutein. UCLA lab tests showed that
when avocado extract was added to two types of prostate
cancer cells, cell growth was inhibited by up to 60%,
whereas purified lutein alone was ineffective. In other
words, when a single nutrient, lutein, was extracted
from avocados it did not offer the same anti-cancer
results as the whole avocado extract.
Dr. Heber commented: "What's really exciting about this
study is that the results indicate that the carotenoids,
vitamins, and diverse compounds in avocados might have
additive or synergistic effects against prostate cancer
compared with pure lutein alone”.
The moral of this story seems to be that whole foods, in
their original whole form, offer the best nutrition
possible for the human body.
