Researchers to Pay Subjects $300 to Eat Avocados Daily: Depleted Soils
By Edge Canopy
A study to be performed by researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, Penn State University, Loma Linda University (LLU), and Tufts University will literally pay people to eat avocados.
250 test subjects will be observed while consuming the avocados, according to the researchers, primarily to determine how visceral adipose fat in the abdomen is affected by it.
Director of the Center for Nutrition, Lifestyle and Disease Prevention at LLU, Joan Sabaté said “The study will examine whether eating one avocado per day reduces visceral adipose fat in the abdomen.”
According to Science Alert:
“The hypothesis being tested is that avocados might actually help people lose belly fat and promote weight loss. In order to qualify for the study, participants must meet the following criteria:
- Be 25 years of age or older
- Be willing to either eat one avocado per day for six months, or eat only two avocados per month for the same period
- Measure at least 40 inches around the waist if they are male, or…
- Measure at least 35 inches around the waist if they are female.”
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The participants will be divided into a control group and a test group. Every two weeks, the test group will be given 16 avocados, with the requirement that they eat one a day for the duration of the six month study.
The control group will be required to eat no more than two avocados in a single month during the same period of time.
The participants will receive $300 each, and a “free health screening” from LLU clinicians.
However, do the LLU clinicians know about one of the main reasons people would choose avocados for health benefits, potassium?
While coconut water is a more popular and efficient way to get the impossibly difficult daily recommended value of potassium, avocados are another great source, close to the amount of potassium a banana contains.
A little over 4,000 milligrams of potassium is what we’re supposed to need daily. That’s about 10 bananas, or 2 entire liters of coconut water, and those are among the most potassium rich foods one can think of.
The truth is, the vital electrolyte that is necessary in balance with sodium to retain healthy brain function, potassium, the thing that makes our muscles not cramp, it’s missing from our soils to some degree that people need to investigate.
Depleted socials, less minerals in our produce: that’s what people are being subject to eating now. Who knows if the supposed potassium content of our bananas is even what they say it is. This needs an independent investigation.
If you need some mainstream evidence our soils are depleted, here’s a little excerpt from a Scientific American article:
“It would be overkill to say that the carrot you eat today has very little nutrition in it—especially compared to some of the other less healthy foods you likely also eat—but it is true that fruits and vegetables grown decades ago were much richer in vitamins and minerals than the varieties most of us get today. The main culprit in this disturbing nutritional trend is soil depletion: Modern intensive agricultural methods have stripped increasing amounts of nutrients from the soil in which the food we eat grows. Sadly, each successive generation of fast-growing, pest-resistant carrot is truly less good for you than the one before.
The Organic Consumers Association cites several other studies with similar findings: A Kushi Institute analysis of nutrient data from 1975 to 1997 found that average calcium levels in 12 fresh vegetables dropped 27 percent; iron levels 37 percent; vitamin A levels 21 percent, and vitamin C levels 30 percent. A similar study of British nutrient data from 1930 to 1980, published in the British Food Journal,found that in 20 vegetables the average calcium content had declined 19 percent; iron 22 percent; and potassium 14 percent. Yet another study concluded that one would have to eat eight oranges today to derive the same amount of Vitamin A as our grandparents would have gotten from one.”
(Image credit: Pixabay)
This article appeared first at Edge Canopy
