Avocados are a versatile fruit loved by many; they gained popularity when social media influencers began making innovative meals, such as the popular avocado french toast.
The best part is that avocados not only taste delicious, but they also contain a variety of nutrients, vitamins, and healthy fats.
So, if you’re wondering if avocado contains iodine because your doctor may have advised you to improve your iodine intake, or if you want to add more nutritious foods to your diet, continue reading to learn the answer to the question, “does avocado have iodine?” as well as the benefits of eating avocados and nutritional information.
What Is Iodine, And Why Is It Important For Our Bodies?
Iodine is a mineral that is essential for our bodies to operate effectively. It works by regulating our metabolism and thyroid gland and shielding us from radiation exposure.
Iodine is an essential mineral that aids in thyroid gland regulation.
Generally found in the lower front of our necks, the thyroid gland is an endocrine gland shaped like a butterfly. This gland creates hormones that control and regulates various vital body processes, including heart rate, metabolism, brain activity, and growth and development. Our body cannot produce the essential thyroid hormones if it lacks Iodine.
If your body lacks iodine, you can come at the risk of developing Hypothyroidism. This disease results from the thyroid gland’s inability to generate enough essential hormones due to a lack of Iodine. Some symptoms of Hypothyroidism include weight gain, fatigue, severe depression, and thinning of hair.
Do Avocados Have Iodine?
Avocados are a rich source of vitamins, fiber, and minerals.
Also, they contain small amounts of Iodine. The recommendation for adults is to consume 150 micrograms of Iodine per day. However, one cup of mashed avocados will only give around 23% of your total Iodine intake.
This indicates that if you rely on avocados as the only source of Iodine, you may develop an Iodine deficiency.
Iodine is an essential vitamin, and while avocados provide some percentage of Iodine, other foods have even higher concentrations. Here are some foods that contain high concentrations of Iodine:
- Fish
- Seaweed
- Milk
- Yogurt
- Cheese
- Eggs
- Chicken
- Prunes
So, if you want to increase your Iodine intake, you should add more of these items to your diet. Now that you know the answer to “if avocado has Iodine or not,” let’s analyze the nutrition data to see how much the fruit contributes to our overall health and wellbeing.
Avocados Nutrition Data
If we focus on the nutritional value of avocados, it is evident that the fruit has a lot to offer. Below is the nutritional information for 7 ounces of Avocado (1):
- Calories: 322
- 4-gram protein
- 30 g of fat
- 14 grams of fiber
- Carbohydrates: 17 g
- Vitamin E: 28% of the daily value
- Vitamin C: 22% of the daily value
- Vitamin K: 35% of the daily value
- Niacin (B3): 22% of the daily value
- Riboflavin (B2): 20% of the daily value
- Pantothenic acid (B5): 56% of the daily value
- Folate: 41% of the daily value
- Manganese: 12% of the daily value
- Pyridoxine (B6): 30% of the daily value
- Magnesium: 14% of the daily value
- Copper: 42% of the DV
- Potassium: 21% of the daily value
The data mentioned above proves that avocados provide a rich source of fiber, essential fats, and a variety of minerals and vitamins. By consuming only half an avocado, you can fulfill around 30 percent of your daily requirements for B6, a vitamin that aids in reducing inflammation and defending against oxidative stress.
Inadequate B6 consumption may have a detrimental effect on the immune system and raise the risk of getting sick. So, avocados can help you stay healthy and protect you from diseases caused due to the deficiencies of various vitamins.
Avocados also include vitamins B6, C, and E, which are vital for your immune system to function effectively. The fruit offers plenty of minerals, including magnesium, folate, vitamin B6, vitamin C, and vitamin E, usually absent from most individuals’ diets.
Avocados are rich in nutrients and vital for good health; thus, consuming them daily and adding them to your diet may help you become healthier and stronger.
How Can I Add More Iodine To My Diet?
The best way to get more Iodine is to eat numerous different foods and dishes made with ingredients rich in Iodine. But before you should consult your doctor! Below are a few easy-to-make recipes to help you increase your intake of Iodine. All of these recipes incorporate avocados along with other foods that have high concentrations of Iodine:
Avocado and Egg French toast
For this delicious recipe, you will need a sliced bread of choice, one ripe Avocado, and one egg (you can add more eggs if you want). For this recipe, we will make a hardboiled egg, but you can customize it according to your liking and make different types of eggs like scrambled, fried, or poached eggs.
Follow the steps below to make avocado and egg French toast:
- Firstly, add your egg to boiling water and let it boil for around nine to twelve minutes, depending on how you like your egg
- While the egg boils, cut up a ripe avocado and add one-fourth of the Avocado to each slice of toasted bread
- Mash up the avocado with the help of a knife or fork
- When your egg is done boiling, drain the hot water and add your eggs to cold water
- Depending on how much time you have, you can wait for 12-14 minutes for the eggs to cool down or start peeling the egg right away
- After peeling, cut up your egg into small pieces and place them over your toast
- Add pepper and salt, along with some hot sauce on top if you are a spice lover
- Serve hot along with a cup of coffee
Avocado Chicken Salad
For this recipe, you will need:
- one cooked and shredded chicken breast
- two diced and pitted avocados
- half cup corn (canned, roasted, or frozen)
- 2tbsp of minced cilantro
- two tbsp. lime juice
- two tbsp. olive oil
- one-fourth cup of chopped green onions
Once your ingredients are gathered, follow the steps below to make a tasty avocado chicken salad.
- Add avocados, shredded chicken, corn, cilantro, and onions to a bowl
- Drizzle olive oil and lime juice on top and add seasoning of choice along with some salt and pepper to taste
- Gently mix the concoction to ensure all ingredients are dispersed nicely, and serve along with some fresh lemonade
You can provide your body with adequate Iodine to function fine and stay healthy by cooking enjoyable and easy recipes that contain more than one iodine-rich item, such as the Avocado and egg in the French toast and the chicken and avocado in the salad.
Health Benefits of Avocados
Here are a few reasons why consuming avocado is beneficial for your health:
- Improves gut health: According to the findings of a study where around 163 overweight adults were monitored, the study found that the individuals who ate around 140 grams to 175 grams of Avocado daily for around 84 days showed an increase in bacterial diversity and low levels of fecal bile acid compared to another group that did not consume avocados daily (2).
- Lower risk of developing heart disease: Avocados’ have an abundance of minerals, vitamins, and essential fats that helps our cardiovascular work efficiently. Aside from that, avocados’ are high in potassium and magnesium, which help control blood pressure. According to a study, controlling blood pressure is essential for preventing heart disease (3).
- May help maintain healthy body weight: Numerous factors affect our weight, but eating a healthy and well-balanced diet is perhaps crucial for preventing obesity and weight management.
- Despite having a high-calorie count, avocados are nutrient-dense and help keep you full because of their healthy fat and high fiber content. Therefore, Avocados keep you from munching on unhealthy snacks, helping you make healthy choices and lose weight.
- Avocados help our body absorb nutrients from plant-based foods: The fat present in avocados can aid our body in absorbing nutrients from plant foods. This works because some fat-soluble nutrients must be combined with fat for our body to utilize them successfully.
Some of these nutrients are vitamin E, D, A, and K, which are incredibly important for our overall health. Hence, adding avocados to your diet, like avocado oil, can help your body absorb essential nutrients.
Takeaway
Now that we’ve addressed your question, does Avocado have iodine? You may educate others on how Avocado has low concentrations of Iodine while other foods like eggs, seaweed, and chicken have high levels.
Therefore, it is critical to maintain a well-balanced diet rich in various healthy nutrients to ensure your body receives the minerals and vitamins it needs to fight off illnesses and function well.
FAQ
1. Are There Any Side Effects Of Avocados?
Avocados don’t have any major side effects. However, if consumed in excess quantity, avocados can give you stomach issues like diarrhea and stomach ache due to the small number of polyols found in avocados that act as laxatives. Also, some people are allergic to avocado.
2. Can Avocado Be Consumed Daily?
You can eat half or one Avocado daily. Avocados will fill you up and keep you from getting hungry throughout the day as they contain healthy mono-saturated fats.
3. Are There Any Symptoms Of Excess Iodine?
If you have high levels of Iodine, you will experience similar symptoms that low levels of Iodine cause. These symptoms include a goiter, which is caused due to the inflammation of the thyroid gland. You risk falling into a coma if you take an extremely big quantity, such as several grams of Iodine at once. It might also give you nausea, a weak pulse, diarrhea, and vomiting.
4. What Vegetable Offers The Richest Source Of Iodine?
Seaweed offers the richest source of Iodine in the vegetable category. More than 1.5 times the daily minimum need for Iodine is found in a 10 grams meal of dried nori seaweed, the kind of seaweed used in sushi.
5. Can Pregnant And Breastfeeding Individuals Eat Avocados?
Avocados are high in important nutrients and minerals that pregnant and breastfeeding women require. However, if your gynecologist has advised you not to eat Avocado for whatever reason, we recommend you refrain from doing so.
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