Avocado leaves are a common medicinal herb used in folk medicine as a tea or herbal remedy. Avocado leaves have many different health benefits and medicinal uses. Some people take them as remedies against high blood pressure, diabetes and other chronic diseases. Usually avocado leaves are taken as part of herbal teas. Some people prepare to use dried avocado leaves whilst others prefer freshly collected avocado leaves. I would prefer the fresh or dried newer leaves. This is not for any nutritional or health reasons but it’s because they are more appealing to the eye. In this article I will discuss the benefits of avocado leaves to health.
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Benefits of avocado leaves to health
The benefits of avocado leaves to health cannot be understated. Most of these benefits come from beliefs based in traditional and herbal medicines. However, some scientific papers have brought about evidence supporting the benefits of avocado leaves to health. These benefits include:
- Reduce effects of disorders that are related to oxidative stress and damage
- Fighting, reducing and preventing chronic inflammation
- Reducing proliferation of viruses like HIV and Herpes Simplex Virus
- Relieving pain
- Prevent and protect you from development of ulcers
- Protects your liver from toxicity
- Good for a healthier weight and weight management
- Help relax blood vessels
Avocado leaves benefits
Preventing and managing diabetes
Studies show that extracts from avocado leaves can help prevent and manage diabetes. The extracts have the ability to fight oxidative free radicals and inhibit the activities of the enzyme alpha amylase. Oxidative free radicals have been highlighted as key contributors to the development of diabetes. Several compounds in avocado leaves can help you fight oxidative free radicals and reduce oxidative stress. On the other hand, inhibiting alpha amylase reduces the digestion of dietary starch. This then influences the amount of glucose released after each meal. And this can help you with glycaemic control, that is the management of your blood sugar levels.This includes the control of post meal blood sugar levels. Regular blood sugar spikes especially after meals can predispose you to the development of diabetic conditions.
Improving and helping in the management of diabetic conditions creates one of the most powerful avocado leaves health benefits.
Avocados leaves benefits on your blood vessels
Avocados can help your blood vessels relax. This plays an important part in your cardiovascular health. The state of your blood vessels plays an important part in the development of high blood pressure and heart diseases. Research shows that due to this effect avocado leaf extracts can be used to treat and manage high blood pressure together with conventional medicine. Therefore, avocado leaves can assist your hypertension medicine to manage the diseases whilst also keeping the deleterious effects of such medicine in check. Avocado leaves also help in treating, preventing and improving several aspects of your heart (cardiovascular) health.
Relieving pain and chronic inflammation
Studies show that avocado leaves can help you in relieving pain and fighting harmful chronic inflammation. In one study, it was found that avocado leaf extracts have the ability to reduces cases of oedema and swelling. And in another study, avocado leaf extracts had the ability to reduce pain induced writhing. All the studies proved that avocado leaf tea has the ability to reduce pain and inhibit chronic inflammation. However, the extent to which this works or occurs has not been clearly stated.
Protects you from seizures and convulsions
One of the benefits of avocado leaves is to protect you from seizures and convulsions. Avocado leaf can help protect you and prevent or even reduce the frequency as well as effects of seizures and convulsions. Although the studies are inconclusive, the available research seems to show that taking avocado leaf extracts (which is usually done in teas) can help you reduces the effects, severity as well as the frequency of seizures and convulsions.
A tea that fights viruses
Another benefit of avocado leaves is to fight viral infections in your body. When a virus infects your body, it will start replicating so that there will be many viruses in your body. As the number of viruses grow, they will destroy various tissues and organs in your body. Usually, your immune system cannot fight effectively against the viruses especially the most virulent ones. However, avocado leaf extracts contain different compounds that have the ability to inhibit and hinder the replication of viruses. This means that the virus replication and their numbers can be controlled to some extent. And this also limits the damage that your body and organs will suffer.
Benefits of avocado leaves in wound healing
Both taking avocado leaf extracts orally and applying them topically can help in the healing of excision type of wounds. The treated wounds heal faster than the untreated wounds. Therefore, you can utilise the extracts of avocado leaves for herbal wound healing.
Ulcer remedy
Studies in rats have shown that administration of avocado leaf tea has beneficial effects on ulcers in rates. And this proves that avocado leaves have a great potential as a herbal antiulcer remedy. The effect has a dose dependent effect. This means higher doses have a greater beneficial effect on ulcers. However, extra care has to be taken with herbal remedies since high intake may result in harmful side effects.
Protects you from liver toxicity and boiling
Extracts from avocado leaves can help in reducing the harmful effects of drug induced liver toxicity and oxidative stress. This means that if you take avocado leaf tea you may experience the benefits of avocado leaves on your liver. The liver is the main detoxification organ in your body and if its poisoned, the poisons can no longer be detoxified. And this means that all the poison can then directly negatively affect your body tissues.
The avocado leaf tea has the ability to activate the antioxidant defence enzymes in the liver to protect it from damage. It also contains other antioxidant compounds that can also help protect you from oxidative stress and damage. The function of the liver cannot be disturbed or compromised as it controls many critical body processes. So, I believe that any remedy that protects your liver from damage is a good remedy.
Avocado leaves benefits on body weight?
Research shows that one of the benefits of avocado leaves is their ability to reduce body weight. Whilst most articles do not clearly stat how this occurs, the avocado leaf tea is believed to have the ability to boost the breakdown of fats in the adipose tissue. The body fats in the adipose tissue contribute to your body weight, so when the body breaks them down you also lose weight.
To be frank, this looks awesome, but my honest opinion does not believe in teas for weight loss. I mean, if these teas worked we wouldn’t have overweight or obese people right? So, I believe that the best way to lose weight is through a lifestyle change. And nothing beats good old exercise. I know most of you believe that exercises don’t work but I believe that they do. If you leave a request, I will tell you a story about how I lost body fat through digging ground nuts out of the ground!
Conclusion
All this information shows that avocado leaves contain high levels of beneficial compounds that are responsible for the benefits of avocado leaves. Avocado leaves benefits are derived from all these healthful compounds. So, if you can fresh or dried clean avocado leaves, you can use them to make a healthful tea that can improve good health. Some of my diabetic and hypertensive relatives have been using these remedies to supplement their conventional medicine. And they have found this to work and also help reduce the deleterious effects of such medicine on the body.