Editorial: Keep calm and eat avocado

Smashed avocado on toast. File photo / Fiona Goodall, via Getty Images

EDITORIAL

It may be a surprise - given the perennial jibe around millennials who eat avocado on toast never making it onto the property ladder - that avocados are such a popular staple.

However, eaten the right way, avocados can be very good for you.

Researchers at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Centre for Nutrition Research found the green genus useful for weight loss and handy for reducing diabetes risk in obese and overweight people.

The Illinois researchers, after studying 31 people with a BMI over 30, found the buttery fruit worked well as a replacement for processed carbs, suppressing hunger and fuelling weight loss for hours. The fruit also had remarkable effects in controlling insulin resistance and blood glucose in 31 overweight and obese adults.

There's always a "but" however, and why should avos be an exception? It turns out it's not such a healthy option to smash them on toast. The researchers found the inclusion of your favourite slab of loaf reduced the benefits, and of course introduced unhealthy carbohydrates to the equation.

With or without toast, eggs, cherry tomatoes, bacon, freshly cracked pepper or salt flakes, most Kiwis clearly know avocados are delicious. Our main variety, Hass, should be in good supply until at least April.

Tuck in and enjoy them with your favourite weekend reading.