Avocado is already touted as a miracle fruit owing to its multiple nutritional properties. From salads to sandwiches, avocados add flavour to just about any dish. And now, researchers have discovered that the seeds of avocados might just contain anti-inflammatory properties. The team from Penn State said that if developed properly, these anti-inflammatory properties could be developed as a functional food ingredient or pharmaceuticals.
The study was conducted over the last decade where researchers developed the compound as a food colourant. They used cell cultures and enzymes that are important in immune response and inflammatory diseases to help figure out these anti-inflammatory properties in the seed. “The next step, before we can draw further conclusions about the anti-inflammatory activity of this avocado seed extract, will be to design animal model studies,” explained one researcher.
“The level of activity that we see from the extract is very good. We saw inhibitory activity at concentrations in the low microgram-per-millilitre range, which is an acceptable amount of activity to justify further studies,” he added. If this study proves to be successful, it could help combat various health conditions like cancer, cardiovascular diseases, arthritis, colitis and chronic inflammation conditions. Well, it looks like avocados have come to the rescue yet again! Stay tuned for more updates.
