Cholesterol Plays Key Role in Cell Signaling

January 16, 2013 |50,869views

Story at-a-glance

• Recent research revealed that cholesterol plays a key role in regulating protein pathways involved in cell signaling and may also regulate other cellular processes
• It’s already known that cholesterol plays a critical role within your cell membranes, but this new research suggests cholesterol also interacts with proteins inside your cells, adding even more importance
• Having too little cholesterol is actually a verifiable risk to your health and may impact your brain health, hormone levels, heart disease risk and more
• Placing an upper limit on dietary cholesterol, especially such a LOW upper limit as is now recommended, is likely causing far more harm than good; cholesterol-rich foods like eggs and butter are quite healthy for most people

By Dr. Mercola

Are you still under the impression that cholesterol is a dietary villain and a primary cause of heart disease? And do you avoid eating healthy animal foods like eggs, butter and grass-fed beef because of “high-cholesterol” fears?

It’s time for these pervasive myths to be laid to rest, as when you understand the truth about how cholesterol works in your body you’ll realize it’s not an enemy to your health, but instead plays an essential role in keeping your body functioning optimally.

Cholesterol Crucial for Healthy Cell Functioning

Cholesterol has been demonized since the early 1950's, following the popularization of Ancel Keys' flawed research. As a result, people now spend tens of billions of dollars on cholesterol-reducing drugs each year, thinking they have to lower this "dangerous" molecule lest they keel over from a heart attack.

But cholesterol has many health benefits. Recent research revealed, for instance, that cholesterol plays a key role in regulating protein pathways involved in cell signaling and may also regulate other cellular processes.¹

It’s already known that cholesterol plays a critical role within your cell membranes, but this new research suggests cholesterol also interacts with proteins inside your cells, adding even more importance.

Your body is composed of trillions of cells that need to interact with each other.

Cholesterol is one of the molecules that allow for these interactions to take place. For example, cholesterol is the precursor to bile acids, so without sufficient amounts of cholesterol, your digestive system can be adversely affected.

It also plays an essential role in your brain, which contains about 25 percent of the cholesterol in your body. It is critical for synapse formation, i.e. the connections between your neurons, which allow you to think, learn new things, and form memories.

In fact, there's reason to believe that low-fat diets and/or cholesterol-lowering drugs may cause or contribute to Alzheimer's disease. Low cholesterol levels have also been linked to violent behavior, due to adverse changes in brain chemistry, particularly a reduction in serotonin activity Furthermore, you need cholesterol to produce steroid hormones, including your sex hormones. Vitamin D is also synthesized from a close relative of cholesterol: 7-dehydrocholesterol.

Cholesterol is Necessary for Life Itself

Download Interview Transcript

Considering the fact that conventional medicine has been telling us that heart disease is due to elevated cholesterol and recommends lowering cholesterol levels as much as possible, it may come as a shock to learn that having too little cholesterol is actually a verifiable risk to your health. As Chris Masterjohn, who recently received his PhD in nutritional sciences from the University of Connecticut, explained, to get an idea of the importance of cholesterol you only need to look at what happens if you don’t have it…

"If we want to understand why cholesterol is really an incredibly important molecule and is really our friend rather than our enemy, I think what we should look at is the question, 'What happens without cholesterol?' he says.

...[L]ook at Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome or SLOS, which is a symptom of genetic deficiency in cholesterol. It's when people can't make enough cholesterol on their own. In order to actually have this full-blown syndrome, it's a recessive trait, which means you need a defective gene for cholesterol synthesis from your father, and you need one from your mother as well. Now, the number of people who carry this defective gene in the population is about one to three percent of the population.

However, the number of babies who are born with Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome is far lower than we would expect. ...It turns out that if [the fetus] has both of these genes and the unborn child can't synthesize its own cholesterol, then this usually results in spontaneous abortion. So right away we see that cholesterol is needed for life itself..."

In those rare cases where a baby is born with Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, the child is susceptible to and can present a wide range of defects, such as:

Autism or mental retardation	Failure to thrive	Physical defects in hands, feet and/or internal organs
Visual problems	Increased susceptibility to infection	Digestive problems

Heart Disease May Even be Caused by a Cholesterol Deficiency

According to Dr. Stephanie Seneff:

"Heart disease, I think, is a cholesterol deficiency problem, and in particular a cholesterol sulfate deficiency problem..."

Through her research, she has developed a theory in which the mechanism we call "cardiovascular disease" (of which arterial plaque is a hallmark) is actually your body's way to compensate for not having enough cholesterol sulfate. She believes that cholesterol combines with sulfur to form cholesterol sulfate, and this cholesterol sulfate helps thin your blood by serving as a reservoir for the electron donations you receive when walking barefoot on the earth (also called grounding). She believes that, via this blood-thinning mechanism, cholesterol sulfate may provide natural protection against heart disease. In fact, she goes so far as to hypothesize that heart disease is likely the result of cholesterol deficiency — which of course is diametrically opposed to the conventional view.

Total Cholesterol Level is Not a Reliable Indicator of Your Heart Disease Risk

As the the leading causes of death in the United States, it’s important to monitor your risk factors for heart disease and make changes to your lifestyle accordingly. However, total cholesterol will tell you virtually nothing about your disease risk, unless it's exceptionally elevated (above 330 or so, which would be suggestive of familial hypercholesterolemia, and is, in my view, about the only time a cholesterol-lowering drug would be appropriate). Two ratios that are far better indicators of heart disease risk are:

1. Your HDL/total cholesterol ratio: HDL percentage is a very potent indicator of your heart disease risk. Just divide your HDL level by your total cholesterol. This percentage should ideally be above 24 percent. Below 10 percent, it's a significant indicator of risk for heart disease
2. Your triglyceride/HDL ratios: This percentage should ideally be below 2

Four additional risk factors for heart disease are:

1. Your fasting insulin level: Any meal or snack high in carbohydrates like fructose and refined grains generates a rapid rise in blood glucose and then insulin to compensate for the rise in blood sugar. The insulin released from eating too many carbs promotes fat and makes it more difficult for your body to shed excess weight, and excess fat, particularly around your belly, is one of the major contributors to heart disease.
Your fasting insulin level can be determined by a simple, inexpensive blood test. A normal fasting blood insulin level is below 5, but ideally you'll want it below 3. If your insulin level is higher than 3 to 5, the most effective way to optimize it is to reduce or eliminate all forms of dietary sugar, particularly fructose, from your diet.

2. Your fasting blood sugar level: Studies have shown that people with a fasting blood sugar level of 100-125 mg/dl had a nearly 300 percent higher risk of having coronary heart disease than people with a level below 79 mg/dl.
3. Your waist circumference: Visceral fat, the type of fat that collects around your internal organs, is a well-recognized risk factor for heart disease. The simplest way to evaluate your risk here is by simply measuring your waist circumference. For further instructions, please see my previous article, Your Waist Size Can Be a Powerful Predictor of Hypertension and Other Chronic Diseases.
4. Your iron level: Iron can be a very potent cause of oxidative stress, so if you have excess iron levels you can damage your blood vessels and increase your risk of heart disease. Ideally, you should monitor your ferritin levels and make sure they are not much above 80 ng/ml. The simplest way to lower them if they are elevated is to donate your blood. If that is not possible you can have a therapeutic phlebotomy and that will effectively eliminate the excess iron from your body.

Do You Need to Monitor Your Dietary Cholesterol Intake?

About 80-90 percent of the cholesterol in your body is produced by your liver, which has led to the faulty assumption that cholesterol from dietary sources can, and should, be avoided. Dr. Seneff actually believes it's difficult to get "too much" cholesterol in your diet, particularly in the standard American diet. But you may very well be getting too little, and that can cause serious problems. She points to the research by Weston A. Price, a dentist by profession who traveled all around the world studying the health effects of indigenous diets. Interestingly enough, many indigenous diets are shockingly high in dietary cholesterol based on today's conventional medical standards.

Cholesterol-rich foods like caviar, liver and the adrenal glands of bears were highly valued in some cultures that also had very low rates of heart disease and other modern diseases.

Dr. Seneff believes, as do I, that placing an upper limit on dietary cholesterol, especially such a LOW upper limit as is now recommended, is likely causing far more harm than good. You can get an idea of what types of cholesterol-rich foods to include in your diet by following my nutrition plan. As Masterjohn further pointed out:²

“Since we cannot possibly eat enough cholesterol to use for our bodies' daily functions, our bodies make their own. When we eat more foods rich in this compound, our bodies make less. If we deprive ourselves of foods high in cholesterol -- such as eggs, butter, and liver — our body revs up its cholesterol synthesis. The end result is that, for most of us, eating foods high in cholesterol has very little impact on our blood cholesterol levels.

In seventy percent of the population, foods rich in cholesterol such as eggs cause only a subtle increase in cholesterol levels or none at all. In the other thirty percent, these foods do cause a rise in blood cholesterol levels.  

Despite this, research has never established any clear relationship between the consumption of dietary cholesterol and the risk for heart disease… Raising cholesterol levels is not necessarily a bad thing either.”

How to Optimize Your Cholesterol Levels Naturally

The goal of the guidelines below is not to lower your cholesterol as low as it can go, but rather to optimize your levels so they're working in the proper balance with your body.  

Again, the majority of your cholesterol is produced by your liver, which is influenced by your insulin levels. Therefore, if you optimize your insulin level, you will automatically optimize your cholesterol. This is why my primary recommendations for safely regulating your cholesterol have to do with modifying your diet and lifestyle as follows:

• Reduce, with the plan of eliminating, grains and sugars in your diet. It is vitally important to eliminate gluten-containing grains and dangerous sugars especially fructose.
• Consume a good portion of your food raw.
• Make sure you are getting plenty of high-quality, animal-based omega 3 fats, such as krill oil. Research suggests that as little as 500 mg of krill per day may improve your total cholesterol and triglycerides and will likely increase your HDL cholesterol.
• Replace harmful vegetable oils and synthetic trans fats with healthful fats, such as olive oil, butter and coconut oil (remember olive oil should be used cold only, use coconut oil for cooking and baking).
• Include fermented foods in your daily diet. This will not only optimize your intestinal microflora, which will boost your overall immunity, it will also introduce beneficial bacteria into your mouth. Poor oral health is another powerful indicator of increased heart disease risk.
• Optimize your vitamin D levels, ideally through appropriate sun exposure as this will allow your body to also create vitamin D sulfate—another factor that may play a crucial role in preventing the formation of arterial plaque.
• Exercise regularly. Make sure you incorporate high-intensity interval exercises, which also optimize your human growth hormone (HGH) production.
• Avoid smoking or drinking alcohol excessively.
• Be sure to get plenty of high-quality, restorative sleep.

[-] Sources and References

• Nature Communications December 4, 2012; 3:1249
• Medical News Today January 1, 2013

• ¹ Nature Communications December 4, 2012; 3:1249
• ² Cholesterol-and-health.com March 2007

Cholesterol Plays Key Role in Cell Signaling

Vermicompost - a natural fertilizer product

Worms Produce Another Kind of Gold for Farmers

January 17, 2013 |26,821views

Story at-a-glance

• A small but growing group of worm farmers are creating a natural fertilizer product known as “vermicompost,” which is said to improve plant growth and make plants more resistant to disease and insects than plants grown with other composts and fertilizers
• Worms’ digestive process naturally excretes beneficial microbes into the soil, which drastically alter the soil’s composition
• Whereas conventional farming and the use of synthetic fertilizers rapidly depletes the soil of nutrients, vermicompost helps restore microbial diversity -- and the worms can even transform manure waste from industrial farms into this valuable compost

By Dr. Mercola

We’re living in an era where the largest food producers in the United States operate more like factories than farms, complete with industrial farming practices that produce obscene amounts of waste and threaten to completely deplete what was once rich and fertile soil.

With each harvest, the land is stripped of vital nutrients plants need to grow, and so synthetic fertilizers and other chemicals are added back into the land out of necessity.

The Problem with Synthetic and Other Toxic Fertilizers

There are problems with trying to synthetically fertilize the land, as restoring soil to its original grandeur – a complex ecosystem teeming with microbes and nutrients – is not as simple as adding back in various concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK, a common synthetic fertilizer).

Aside from often leading to imbalances in the soil that can harm plant growth, synthetic fertilizers contribute to environmental contamination, and there is even concern that the natural deposits of phosphorus and potassium – two elements necessary for plants to grow – are being rapidly depleted.¹

Sewage sludge, or “biosolids” – as they’re referred to with a PR spin – is another type of fertilizer that began being “recycled” into food crops when, ironically, it was realized that dumping them into rivers, lakes and bays was an environmental disaster. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that about 50 percent of all biosolids are recycled to land.² This sludge is what’s leftover after sewage is treated and processed.

Your first thought may be the “yuck factor” of human waste being used to fertilize your food, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. Every time a paintbrush gets rinsed, an old bottle of medications flushed, or solvents are hosed off a factory floor, it ends up in the sewage system. So it’s not surprising that a past analysis of sewage sludge by the Environmental Working Group found:³

• Over 100 synthetic organic compounds including phthalates, toluene, and chlorobenzene
• Dioxins in sludge from 179 out of 208 systems (80%)
• 42 different pesticides – at least one in almost every sample, with an average of almost 2 pesticides per survey sample
• Nine heavy metals, often at high concentrations

Worm Farms May Hold the Secret to Restoring Soil Health, Naturally

A small but growing group of farmers are tending not to corn or cattle, but to worms. These intriguing creatures’ digestive process naturally excretes beneficial microbes into the soil, which drastically alter the soil’s composition. These worm farmers are creating a natural product known as “vermicompost,” which is said to improve plant growth and make plants more resistant to disease and insects than plants grown with other composts and fertilizers.^{4, 5} As the New York Times reported, Dr. Norman Arancon, an assistant professor of horticulture at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, said:⁶

“…soil that has been heavily exposed to synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides lacks microbial richness and diversity, qualities that can be restored naturally by adding the microbes from worms.”

What makes vermicompost so exciting is not only its ability to help plants thrive naturally, it’s also showing promise as a solution for the millions of pounds of manure waste put out by industrial concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). At one worm farm, worms are able to transform 10 million pounds of manure from a dairy farm into 2.5 million pounds of beneficial vermicompost.⁷

In addition to helping create a valuable compost to help plants grow, worms have also been singled out for their ability to break down toxins like cadmium, lead and other heavy metals, helping to detoxify soil. They do this by optimizing the bacterial content of the soil. Worms also can even break down cardboard waste fibers, making them a potential recycling tool.

Natural “Worm” Composts May Help Protect the Future Food Supply

Many are not aware that one of the reasons why the conventional agribusiness food system has emerged as a major threat to your health is because it is contributing to the destruction of the world's topsoil. According to an article in Time World,⁸ soil erosion and degradation rates suggest we have only about 60 remaining years of topsoil. Forty percent of the world's agricultural soil is now classified as either degraded or seriously degraded; the latter means that 70 percent of the topsoil is gone.

Our soil is being lost at 10 to 40 times the rate it can be replenished, and our food production systems are to blame, which epitomizes the term "unsustainable." It takes decades or even centuries to regenerate significant levels of soil.

Agriculture accounts for 70 percent of our fresh water use. When the soil is unfit, water is wasted – it washes right through the soil and past the plant's root system. We already have a global water shortage that's projected to worsen over the next 20 to 30 years, so this is the last thing we need. Soil degradation is projected to cause a 30 percent loss in food production over the next 20 to 50 years – while our global food demands are expected to increase by 50 percent over this span of time.

Many don't realize that soil is alive and has an incredible diversity of microorganisms. One handful of soil contains more microbes than the number of people who have ever lived on our planet. Just as we are beginning to more fully appreciate the importance of beneficial bacteria in our gut in our own health, there is emerging evidence that beneficial bacteria in the soil are crucial to break down nutrients and make them available to the plants so they can be optimally healthy and resist disease and pests.

These organisms create a powerful synergy with the plants and recycle organic material, making the soil more resilient and better at holding water and nutrients, and better at nurturing plants. Microbes need carbon for food, and we're depleting our soil of this element by using chemical fertilizers, overgrazing, over-ploughing, and burning stubble in fields to accelerate crop turnover.

Genetically Modified Crops Further Depleting the Soil

Add to this genetically modified (GM) crops, and our soil (and future food supply) is dealt another deathblow, as the latest science seems to suggest GM plant cultivation may seriously disrupt soil ecology by reducing microbial diversity, which decreases soil fertility over time – possibly irreversibly.⁹ Until the industrial farming complex reverts back to a traditional model that works with the laws of nature instead of against them, more natural solutions for soil restoration, like vermicompost, are urgently needed.

Yet Another Reason for Buying Organic…

Organic agricultural practices promote ideal soil conditions, while conventional farming methods threaten to completely deplete our soils worldwide, which will only worsen nutrition as time goes on. This is vital, since the continued destruction of our soils will ultimately lead to the demise of the entire food system.

In order to qualify as certified organic, a product must be grown and processed using organic farming methods that recycle resources and promote biodiversity. Crops must be grown without synthetic pesticides, bioengineered genes, petroleum-based fertilizers, or sewage sludge-based fertilizers. Eating organically and supporting farms whose practices are sustainable is currently one of the best ways to protect your health, the environment and the very future of our food supply.

As an aside, if you do decide to give vermicompost a try, either in your own garden or by purchasing products grown with it, be sure it is from a reputable company. The market is currently unregulated and no industry standards exist, so product quality varies widely.

[-] Sources and References

• Organic Consumers Association December 31, 2012
• NYTimes.com December 31, 2012

• ¹ Mother Jones November 28, 2012
• ² U.S. EPA, Sewage Sludge (Biosolids) FAQs
• ³ Environmental Working Group, Sewage Sludge
• ⁴ Bioresour Technol. 2006 Apr;97(6):831-40.
• ⁵ Bioresour Technol. 2005 Jul;96(10):1137-42.
• ⁶ NYTimes.com December 31, 2012
• ⁷ NYTimes.com December 31, 2012
• ⁸ TimeWorld December 14, 2012
• ⁹ PSRAST December 14, 2010

Worms Produce Another Kind of Gold for Farmers

The Many Health Benefits of Avocado

January 17, 2013 |258,895views

Story at-a-glance

• A small pilot study found that eating one-half of a fresh medium Hass avocado with a hamburger significantly inhibited the production of the inflammatory compound Interleukin-6 (IL-6), compared to eating a burger without fresh avocado
• Avocados, which are actually classified as a fruit, are rich in monounsaturated fat that is easily burned for energy. They also provide close to 20 essential health-boosting nutrients, including potassium, vitamin E, B-vitamins, and folic acid
• Previous research has found avocado can help optimize cholesterol levels within as little as one week; contains compounds that appear to inhibit and destroy oral cancer cells, and those that protect against liver damage
• The greatest concentration of beneficial carotenoids is in the dark green fruit of the avocado, closest to the peel, so use the “nick and peel” method to maximize the benefits from your avocado
• You can increase your avocado consumption by using it as a fat replacement in baking; add it to soups, dessert whips and countless other recipes; and use as a baby’s first food in lieu of processed baby food

By Dr. Mercola

You probably know that avocados are an excellent source of healthful fats, but this whole food may also have other unique health benefits.

To learn more, the Hass Avocado Board (HAB) is supporting clinical research to investigate various health effects of avocado consumption, particularly its benefits for cardiovascular disease, weight management, diabetes, and its ability to enhance your body’s absorption of nutrients.

The first of these HAB-supported studies was published in November, 2012.¹ The small UCLA-led pilot study found that eating one-half of a fresh medium Hass avocado with a hamburger (made with 90 percent lean beef) significantly inhibited the production of the inflammatory compound Interleukin-6 (IL-6), compared to eating a burger without fresh avocado.

According to lead author David Heber, MD, PhD, the findings offer “promising clues” about avocado’s ability to benefit vascular function and heart health. As reported by Medical News Today:²

“The researchers observed a significant peak (approximately a 70 percent increase), of IL-6 four hours after the plain burger was eaten, but less effect on IL-6 (approximately a 40 percent increase) over the same time period when fresh avocado was eaten with the burger.

Additionally, the study found that when fresh Hass avocado was eaten with the burger it did not increase triglyceride levels beyond what was observed after eating the burger alone, despite the extra calories and fat from the fresh avocado...

The pilot study also reported that the difference in peripheral arterial blood flow (the movement of blood to different parts of the body, as measured by PAT), a predictor of vascular health, after eating the hamburger meal compared to the hamburger-fresh avocado meal was approaching statistical significance...

PAT scores significantly decreased (signifying reduced blood flow) only after the plain burger was eaten (approximately a 27 percent drop, on average) compared to a burger with fresh avocado (approximately a 4 percent drop, on average, signifying less reduction in blood flow).”

Avocados – A Real “Super Food”

Avocados, which are actually classified as a fruit, are rich in monounsaturated fat that is easily burned for energy. Personally, I eat a whole avocado virtually every day, which I usually put in my salad. This increases my healthy fat and calorie intake without seriously increasing my protein or carbohydrate intake. (See Nutrition Facts Panel below.) It is also very high in potassium and will help balance your vitally important potassium to sodium ratio.

As I’ve mentioned before, eliminating grain carbs is one of the best ways to support your health and maintain your weight, but when you cut down on carbs, you need to increase your intake of healthy fats. Avocados are an excellent source, along with organic raw butter, coconut oil, and organic pastured eggs, just to name a few.

 

There’s also evidence suggesting that limiting your intake of protein can be helpful for long-term good health and the prevention of cancer. At the very least, most people are consuming far too much poor-quality protein, such as beef and animal products from livestock raised in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Here again, if you cut down on protein, you need to replace lost calories with healthy fats such as avocados, coconut oil, olives, olive oil, butter and nuts.

Overall, most people would do well to get upwards of 50-70 percent fat in their diet (along with high amounts of vegetable carbs, moderate-to-low amounts of high-quality protein, and very little, if any, carbs). According to the California Avocado Commission, a medium Hass avocado contains about 22.5 grams of fat, two-thirds of which is monounsaturated. They’re also very low in fructose, which is yet another boon, and provide close to 20 essential health-boosting nutrients, including:

• Fiber
• Potassium (more than twice the amount found in a banana)
• Vitamin E
• B-vitamins
• Folic acid

Avocados are one of the safest fruits you can buy conventionally-grown,and most experts do not believe you need to purchase organic ones. Their thick skin protects the inner fruit from pesticides. Additionally, it has been rated as one of the safest commercial crops in terms of pesticide exposure,³ so there’s no real need to spend extra money on organic avocados, unless you can afford it.

The Many Health Benefits of Avocados

Avocados have a long list of potential health benefits. For example, besides its anti-inflammatory properties, previous research from Japan suggests this powerful fruit may also help protect against liver damage. In one study,⁴ laboratory rats were fed avocado and 22 other fruits. The rats were then given D-galactosamine, a potent liver toxin that interferes with cell synthesis and results in cell death. The rats fed avocado suffered the least amount of liver damage. The chemical-induced liver injuries resemble those caused by viruses, so the researchers suggested avocado could potentially offer support in the treatment of viral hepatitis. According to one lead author Hirokazu Kawagishi, Ph.D:

“Besides offering taste and nutrition, avocados seem to improve liver health. People should eat more of them."

Due to its beneficial raw fat content, avocado enables your body to more efficiently absorb fat-soluble nutrients (such as alpha- and beta-carotene and lutein) in other foods eaten in conjunction. One 2005 study,⁵ found that adding avocado to salad allowed the volunteers to absorb three to five times more carotenoids antioxidant molecules, which help protect your body against free radical damage. Other research has found that avocados:

• Contain compounds that appear to inhibit and destroy oral cancer cells.^{6, 7}
• Can help improve lipid profiles in both healthy individuals and those with non optimized HDL/ total cholesterol levels). In one study,⁸ healthy individuals saw a 16 percent decrease of serum total cholesterol level following a one-week long diet high in monounsaturated fat from avocados. In those with elevated cholesterol levels, the avocado diet resulted in a 17 percent decrease of serum total cholesterol, and a 22 percent decrease of both LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides, along with an 11 percent increase of the so-called “good” HDL cholesterol.

The Best Way to Peel an Avocado

Did you know there are many ways to skin an avocado? Well, there are, and how you de-skin your fruit can have a bearing on the nutrients you get from it. In 2010, the California Avocado Commission issued guidelines for getting the most out of your avocado by peeling it the right way:⁹

“California-grown avocados contain 11 carotenoids. According to USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, avocados contain a complex package of phytonutrients, including carotenoids that may provide numerous health benefits. Carotenoids appear to protect humans against certain cancers, heart disease and age-related macular degeneration.

The UCLA research showed that in California avocados, the greatest concentration of beneficial carotenoids is in the dark green fruit of the avocado closest to the peel.

'The Commission’s public relations outreach to encourage consumers to ‘nick and peel’ their California avocados and to eat that dark green area of the fruit has resulted in 33 million consumer impressions,' said Jan DeLyser, vice president of marketing for CAC. 'This ‘nick and peel’ message is also valuable information for produce departments to share with their shoppers.'”

To preserve the area with the greatest concentration of antioxidants, you basically want to peel the avocado with your hands, as you would a banana:

1. First, cut the avocado length-wise, around the seed
2. Holding each half, twist them in the opposite directions to separate them from the seed
3. Remove the seed
4. Cut each half, lengthwise
5. Next, using your thumb and index finger, simply peel the skin off each piece

How to Get More Avocado into Your Diet

While avocado is commonly eaten raw, on salad or alone, with nothing but a dash of Himalayan salt and some ground pepper, for example, there are many other ways to include avocado in your diet. For example, you can use avocado in the following ways:

• Use as a fat replacement in baking. Simply replace the fat called for (such as oil, butter or shortening) with an equal amount of avocado
• Use as a first food for babies, in lieu of processed baby food
• For hundreds of unique recipes that include avocado–from salads to dessert whip and everything in between – check out the California Avocado Commission’s website¹⁰

[-] Sources and References

• ¹ Food and Function November 29, 2012 [Epub ahead of print]
• ² Medical News Today December 26, 2012
• ³ EWG's 2012 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce
• ⁴ Science Daily December 20, 2000
• ⁵ Journal of Nutrition March 1, 2005: 135(3); 431-436
• ⁶ Nutrition and Cancer 2009: 61(3); 348-356
• ⁷ Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications June 10, 2011: 409(3); 465-469
• ⁸ Arch. med. Res. 1996:27(4);519-523
• ⁹ California Avocado Commission Press release August 11, 2010
• ¹⁰ California Avocado Commission, Avocado Recipes

The Many Health Benefits of Avocado